Graduation
by jkrust78
Summary: What would have happened if Kim had given her speech at graduation? What would she have said? How would she have handled the sitch with her and Ron? What about the aftermath of the Lowardian invasion? A slightly AU re-telling of "Graduation."
1. Part 1

_A/N: This story is a slightly AU re-telling of the episode "Graduation." What would have happened if Kim hadn't been kidnapped by the Lowardians during her speech? What would she have said? How would she have handled the sitch between her and Ron? Was Ron right, was she headed for the stars while he was stuck here on earth? Also, how would they both cope in the aftermath of the Lowardian invasion? This is part one of a three part story._

_Legal disclaimer: I don't own Disney's Kim Possible or any of the characters or any of the dialogue from the show. I am also in no way doing any of this for money._

_Special thanks to DeucesWild for beta reading._

_Now, with that out of the way...on with the story!_

* * *

Graduation: Part 1

It was unseasonably warm that early June night in Middleton, Colorado. Felix Renton took off his mortarboard and wiped his brow as he stood in line to enter the Middleton High School football stadium. Wearing his good clothes—along with the cap and gown that all high school graduates were required to wear for the ceremony—was making him very uncomfortable.

Restlessly, he shifted his body around in his specially designed chair that allowed him almost as much mobility as a normal person, trying to beat the heat and deal with the butterflies that gnawed at his stomach. He wasn't normally a nervous person, but tonight he could be forgiven if he was feeling a bit wound up. Tonight it was his honor to speak as the class valedictorian of the 2006 graduation class of Middleton High School. _Man, _he thought to himself, _who'd have thought that I'd have made it this far?_

Indeed, there were times in his life that he didn't even want to come to school. After the accident that left him paralyzed, he had spent a number of lonely years in elementary and middle school. Almost all of his former friends had inexplicably shunned him after that terrible day nearly eight years ago, as if being in a wheelchair was some sort of disease that made them wary of being near him.

As a result, the normally outgoing Felix became sullen and withdrawn for a time. While his usually excellent grades never suffered (due to the fact that school work came easy for him), personally he suffered greatly. The whole ordeal felt like a burden on him and added to the normal turbulence of the teenage years. Through counseling and introspection he was finally able to make peace with himself and the world around him and his election as class valedictorian was very much a personal victory in his struggle.

_This is where it all changed_, he smiled to himself inside. _Middleton High was the best thing to ever happen to me. This is where I found happiness and friendship. All the bad things seem worth it now that I've come this far._

Felix thought about the two most instrumental people in the change. One was a blonde-haired young man with a goofy smile and a laid back disposition. Ron Stoppable had befriended Felix in their first year of high school and the two had bonded over their mutual love of video games, computers and robotics.

Ron never judged Felix because of his appearance or disabilities; rather, he found it "badical"—as he liked to put it—that Felix had tricked out his chair to be able to climb steps or float in mid-air. Having a friend like Ron, who saw him as a person first and foremost, meant more to Felix than he could ever say. Of course, because they were both guys, talking about feelings towards each other wasn't really high on the list of priorities, not when you could spend that time bashing zombies or eating junk food instead.

Felix looked down the line behind him at the assembled graduates, knowing the ceremony would be beginning soon. Out of the assembled throng of students that would soon be leaving Middleton High for the adult world, Felix spied a girl with a slender figure and jet black hair. Almost on cue, she turned around to face him, a wide grin crossing her Latina features as she laid eyes on him. Zita Flores positively beamed at her boyfriend at the head of the line. Felix returned her smile with one almost as wide and a wave of the hand.

_That right there is reason number two why this place was the best thing to ever happen to me_, Felix thought to himself contentedly.

It was a little known fact that at the Junior Prom a little over a year ago there were actually two couples that hooked up officially. One was Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable; really more of a formality as least as far as the student body was concerned. Everyone was convinced that it was only a matter of time before the cheerleader turned world saving teen hero and her best friend/sidekick since pre-K would finally realize how they felt about each other. There had even been a secret pool going around the school and, even though he felt guilty about it, Felix had put some money into the pot, attempting to guess when the event would occur. Felix had guessed it would finally happen during the summer, so when Kim and Ron had walked through the doors of the gym holding hands, he was a little put off at not being the big winner. That honor had actually fallen on Brick Flagg of all people; he had guessed correctly that the two would finally get together the night of the prom. _No wonder he seemed so happy that evening,_ Felix remembered. _It wasn't because of his date that's for sure_.

He chuckled a bit at how Brick had blown off Bonnie Rockwaller to hang out with Kim's friend Monique for a good portion of the evening following Kim and Ron's grand entrance. Felix knew that seeing her rival show up with two boyfriends in an evening—even though one wasn't a real person as it turned out—and then losing her date to her rival's best female friend must have driven Bonnie up a wall. Overall, it had still been a _very_ good evening.

The lesser known couple to get together at the Junior Prom was he and Zita. She had gone as his date to the prom and afterwards, sitting on her porch in the cool spring night, they had both revealed their hopes, dreams, fears and most importantly, how they felt towards each other. He thought she was funny, smart and of course very pretty. She said that he was "hella" cute, had nice eyes, a great sense of humor, plus she really admired him for overcoming all the obstacles life had thrown at him. It didn't hurt either that they were both fans of the _Everlot_ game, or when they weren't spending time together physically they spent it online battling their way through various quests together. Their relationship was nowhere near as "public" as his best friend's and Kim's; after all, neither he nor Zita were world-saving heroes constantly in the public eye but the student body knew that they were an item and certainly approved of their status as a couple.

"Renton!" A voice next to him barked, bringing Felix out of his reverie. He turned his head towards the source of the booming voice; none other than Steven Barkin, Middleton High's vice-principal and jack-of-all-trades school teacher. Beside him was Mrs. Whittler, the school principal; along with Mr. Dunbar, the English teacher who would be reading the names of the students as they climbed the stage to receive their diplomas.

"Are you ready Renton? The ceremony starts in three minutes," Barkin stated gruffly. Felix simply nodded his head yes.

_Well, this is it; no backing out now. I suppose if Kim and Ron can do all the things that they do, I shouldn't have any problem giving a speech. Besides, if mine tanks I'll bet that Kim will knock hers out of the park._

Felix and Kim had both been nominated as class valedictorians, so a vote had been held by the graduating class to decide who would speak at the ceremony. When the final votes had been tallied, Felix had won, but only by a slim margin of five votes. Being the kind of person he was, Felix was touched by the support of his fellow classmates, but he also knew that Kim Possible carried some serious weight around the school. After all, if it weren't for some blatant—at least to him—cheating on the part of Bonnie, Kim would have become homecoming queen. So Felix approached Mrs. Whittler and Mr. Barkin to ask a favor of them and was pleased when they agreed with him. He then went to Kim and asked her if she wouldn't mind saying a few words at graduation after he had spoken. Kim was naturally taken aback, but with some encouragement from Ron, she agreed.

_It was the least I could do for her, her and Ron should have been King and Queen._ Felix thought about the famous teen couple and then about his own relationship. _Who knows if Zita and I will still be together a year from now_? Felix pondered. _We're going to different schools; but they're both on the East Coast, so we won't be too far away from each other._

Felix looked back down the line to see if he could see Kim or Ron in the mass of lined up students, but because of where their names were alphabetically he was unable to catch of glimpse of either of them.

_I know of two people, however, that will be together for a very long time. If they could they would stay with each other for all eternity,_ he thought with a smile as the first strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" began to play over the stadium's loudspeaker system, signaling the beginning of the graduation ceremony. _Those two need each other more than life itself._

* * *

If Felix was a little nervous about what he was about to do, Ron Stoppable was absolutely petrified. On the surface it seemed like a totally irrational response, considering he was about to graduate and move on from the comfortable trappings of teenage life to adulthood. One would have thought he would have been overjoyed at the prospect of his graduation, but Ron was not that person.

He had not come to this point in an easy fashion, either. Being a lifelong slacker, there was a time when he was in real danger of actually being held back a grade because of his poor marks, but he'd managed to persevere when it mattered; a classic example of his "Ron in the clutch" abilities that had a very strange way of coming out of nowhere. Of course, there was still the nagging feeling in Ron's head that maybe, just maybe, Mr. Barkin would find some technicality that disallowed his graduation and he would be forced to spend another year—or at least summer school—being tormented by him. Although Kim refused to believe him, Ron was convinced that the teacher had it out for him since he first stepped into the halls of Middleton High and this would be a perfect opportunity to exact one last measure of revenge for the years of his non-conformist attitude that drove the ex-military man insane.

All told, his senior year had been wildly beyond any of his expectations. He was the surprise star running back of the football team and holder of the all-time school rushing record, a feat he attributed to his "mad running away" skills that he developed over the years as Kim's sidekick. His grades—while not spectacular—had vastly improved to the point where he was even able to achieve a couple of A's on his final report card and his SAT score was in the acceptable range. Then there was the absolute shock—to him at least—of not only being nominated, but voted Homecoming King and although he had to share that title with Bonnie, of all people; he was incredibly grateful that his peers had bestowed the honor upon him.

Finally, there was Kim; by far the most important aspect of his life. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would become the boyfriend of the world famous crime fighting teen superhero; not to mention head cheerleader and arguably the most popular girl in all of Middleton High. Being conditioned to constantly think that he was a loser had made him incredibly prone to bouts of low self-worth. When he had finally told her how he felt about her in the Bueno Nacho storage room during the Diablo incident, he expected that she would let him down gently. For all he knew he thought that she would want to be "just friends" and worse that it would wreck their friendship of twelve years and she wouldn't want to associate with him anymore. That possibility had frozen him to his core, but instead of all his terrible scenarios coming true the one scenario that he secretly longed for came to be. Not only did she not reject him outright, it turned out that she felt the same way for _him_!

This was proven when she took his hand after foiling Drakken's plot and they raced home on his scooter to put in an appearance at the Junior Prom. He wished that the ride home wouldn't end, it just felt so right holding on to her small frame as they rocketed back to Middleton. When they had entered the gym holding hands, the reaction they got from _almost_ everyone in attendance was breathtaking. They approved of him and her! Even though it was a little over a year ago, Ron honestly couldn't remember the rest of the evening apart from their first dance and first kiss. What he did remember was being lost in the emerald green sea of his new girlfriend's eyes the entire evening and maybe walking her home the _long_ way to enable them to spend as much time as possible with each other. They had probably broken Kim's overprotective father's curfew but oddly enough James Possible made no pressing issue of it.

Of course being Ron Stoppable meant being prone to mind numbing paranoia. Sure, Kim was his girlfriend, but part of him was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. After all, she was the _Girl Who Could Do Anything_, so why would she want to hang around with him? He knew that Kim was prone to shallowness—Eric the synthrodrone had proven that to be true—and, for a time, he constantly lived in fear that his new relationship would cause problems on missions, or worse; that Kim would decide one day that she could do better than him and leave him for someone who fit her personality and lifestyle better… not to mention someone who was better looking than him.

It did _not_ help one bit the chance conversation he had with Mr. Barkin in the Smarty Mart stockroom the day before. Barkin had told him all about how he had been in the same position when he was in high school, how he had been the star of the football team, the Homecoming King, and dated the most popular girl in school. Then after he had graduated it all changed, and apparently not for the better. _Everything changes, Stoppable,_ he'd said emphatically, _the centre cannot hold!_

Those words had almost scared Ron to death. He wondered if this was just Barkin messing with his head, but when he thought about it the words rang true… to an extent. Things would change after he left high school; it was the way of the world. To Ron, with his child-like wonderment, that meant that change; which was an incredibly scary thing.

For instance: Kim had gotten acceptance letters from universities across the globe; he hadn't even gotten a polite letter telling him to get lost from one of the few universities he had even applied to. In Ron's opinion, Kim was headed for the stars while he was stuck on earth; he had said as much to her no more than a few minutes before they were forced to line up in alphabetical order. In his mind, he was holding her back and if she felt the same way, then he would understand and step aside. If it actually came down to that, it would easily be the most painful thing he'd ever done; but he would also do it in a heartbeat because he loved her that much.

On top of his relationship fears there was something else gnawing at him. While washing his hands in the stadium bathroom after answering the call of nature, his sensei from Yamanouchi appeared before him as a vision. This occurrence was nothing new to Ron—after all, his sensei once contacted him using the mystery meat gravy from the school cafeteria—although it didn't stop him from freaking out as usual. He wanted to ask him numerous questions, especially concerning his upcoming graduation and Barkin's cryptic words about the centre not holding and change. Instead, the old man began speaking in riddles saying things like: _You have the ferocity of the ancients within you. Never forget that._

Of course, this confused Ron to no end. He continued to be confused when he told him, _you will soon discover, Stoppable-san; you will be ready_.

He then disappeared into thin air, leaving Ron even more frightened than before. He also wasn't quite sure what to make of the wise old man mentioning disturbing signs occurring. It was pretty obvious—even to a dim-bulb like Ron—that he wasn't talking about his graduation. There had been odd things popping up for the past few days; strange symbols showing up across the world, unexplained power outages and communications being scrambled. Even Wade had been affected, which was saying something.

Ron sighed; he didn't really know what to do about that sitch so he decided it was best to deal with what was at hand. Feeling as ready as he could be, he exited the bathroom and retook his place in line with the rest of the students.

It was here that he now found himself, waiting nervously for the ceremony to start. Looking ahead four places, Ron saw the unmistakable red mane of Kim's hair. Almost as if she knew he was looking at her, she suddenly turned around and caught the eye of her boyfriend. Not wanting her to see how nervous he was, or how he was feeling about the whole sitch in general, Ron flashed her one of his trademark goofy grins and gave her the thumbs up sign. _Have to keep up the appearances, KP_, he thought, _I can't let you see me this way; not with all that I'm feeling right now, tearing me up inside._

* * *

Kim Possible smiled back warmly at the goofy form of her best friend/boyfriend four places away, but inside she knew exactly what was going on. _He's _soo_ trying to overcompensate right now_; she thought to herself, _I've known him for so long I can tell exactly when he's scared to death of something and the mechanisms he uses to make me think he's fine when he's so not._

Kim turned towards the front of the line of soon-to-be graduates and pondered. She knew that it wasn't just graduation that had Ron in a knot and she found it hard to believe he would be unhappy to finally leave this place. She also refused to buy into his paranoia about Mr. Barkin finding a way to keep him here; heck, even if Ron was right she'd totally kick the vice-principals biscuit if that's what it took to graduate her man!

She also didn't think it had to do with the weird sitch going on with the strange symbols showing up around the world or communications suddenly becoming intermittent. No, it was definitely had something to do with the two of them.

Kim sighed to herself; before they had to line up alphabetically, Ron had essentially told her that he thought he was holding her back from her dreams. Before she had a chance to respond Barkin yelled at everyone to line up and they couldn't finish their conversation. It absolutely broke her heart, the way Ron criticized himself; there were countless times Kim wanted to slap him upside the head for being self-critical and in the next moment envelop him in her arms and tell him how much she meant to him.

She thought back to when they came together as a couple. He really had no idea just how he'd given her so much hope down in the Bueno Nacho storeroom when she felt totally defeated by Drakken and Shego and was seriously questioning why she hadn't just stuck to babysitting instead of saving the world. Although it was Rufus who had freed their bodies, Ron had freed her mind and soul and given her the strength to carry on and ultimately win the day against her two arch foes. Kim was so proud of Ron and how he fought against the synthrodrone, Eric; even though he was clearly outmatched by the _thing_. When he stood over Drakken's cowering form forcing him to finally say his name, Kim wanted to run over right then and kiss him in front of everyone to finally show her true feelings for him. Feelings that she had pushed deep down inside of her, preferring to rationalize how he wasn't handsome or cool enough, or how he wasn't high school "food chain" material.

Instead they had to wait until they made it back to the Junior Prom to show how they felt about each other. Kim would never forget that night for the rest of her life. How they walked in hand in hand, Bonnie's reaction to them and how they were taken aback by the cheers they received. Their first dance, their first kiss, the picture of them that now had a place of honor on her nightstand next to her bed. The look on Bonnie's face when she found out that she had been foiled yet again by Kim, people coming up to congratulate both of them, even Mr. Barkin had stopped by to wish them well before telling them to lay off the PDA or at least take it outside.

Then, of course, there was the long walk home after the dance and not wanting to leave each other at the end of the evening. They ended up replaying the scene from the gymnasium on her front steps, albeit a much more passionate rendition. The evening was topped off by getting _soo_ busted by both her parents and Ron fearing that he'd be sent to the nearest black hole by her father.

To their credit, her 'rents hadn't freaked out too much; given the short explanation she had given them when she came back from the Diablo mission and announced she was heading back to the prom with Ron. Her mother seemed very pleased by this turn of events and even her father wasn't too upset with the breaking of his curfew.

Surprisingly, her mother managed to convince her father to let Ron sleep over on the couch instead of going home. Her brothers had set up a containment field over the hole in the roof and Ron and Kim spent the early morning hours cuddling together on the couch before both finally falling asleep with their arms wrapped around each other.

From their shining first days as a couple to their impending graduation, Kim wished she could tell him how much she loved him. Sure he was weird, but secretly she liked weird. When she had lost her memory earlier in the year he tried everything to get her to remember that they were a couple… ironically, it took him losing his pants to fully restore the memories of them together.

_When I said I thought I loved him, it came out all wrong! What I meant to say was that I __**knew**__ I loved him. I always have, from pre-K when he fought those bullies to the missions where he has no idea how many times he's stepped up in his own way,_ she thought fondly. _He doesn't think he's attractive? Hah! Any woman that doesn't find him even the tiniest bit attractive has no idea what they're missing. Of course…maybe that's a good thing, that way I can keep him all to myself…_

Kim allowed herself a tiny smile. Of course there were girls that found him attractive and it was her dumb luck that Ron had been almost completely clueless about their intentions; Tara and Yori both coming to her mind immediately.

Yori had definitely liked Ron—to the point where it was almost like there was a giant neon sign over her head—but Ron was completely clueless as usual. However, Yori seemed to ultimately accept that they were an item, although it probably bothered her more than she let on.

Tara, on the other hand, scared Kim a little bit. She knew that the blonde cheerleader would never try to openly steal Ron away from her but Kim wasn't stupid. She also knew how Tara really used to like Ron a couple of years ago but couldn't get him to see it. Tara also had a slightly annoying habit of hugging her male friends when she saw them, whether they were single or not. She had done that a few times right in front of Kim and it sometimes took incredible willpower on the redhead's part to not get severely tweaked at her. Her natural Kimness made her very protective of her man and she didn't quite believe that Tara was as innocent as everyone made her out to be.

Kim switched gears and started thinking about her and Ron's college situation, which had to be another thing bothering him to no end. She'd gotten a mountain of acceptance letters, while he hadn't heard anything back from the small group of colleges that he'd applied to. Even Middleton Community College hadn't responded yet, and they often took students with incomplete high school credits.

_I know that I could go to college anywhere in the world, but as of right now I don't care where I go, as long as I'm with him. Even if he was only able to go to Middleton Community College, I would stay here with him._ _It would be tough being the way that I am, but on the other hand I think I could handle studying at one of my 'rents alma maters if it meant plenty of "study time" with my spankin' boyfriend. _That last thought brought a huge grin to the redhead's face.

Just then the music began, signaling the start of the graduation ceremonies. Kim furrowed her brow as the line of students began to move into the stadium and to their assigned seating. She was going to tell him once and for all how she felt about him, and she would do it this evening no matter what.

* * *

Slowly, the graduating class of Middleton High made their way into the stadium in alphabetical order. Already looking down on them from the dais was Principal Whittler, Mr. Barkin, Felix, the district Superintendent and various dignitaries from the school board. Mister Barkin acted as Master of Ceremonies as Mr. Dunbar had suddenly fallen ill with laryngitis and was unable to speak. Upon hearing this Ron was fully convinced that there was a plot being hatched to get back at him.

The various VIPs on the dais each came forward one by one to offer remarks and congratulations to the assembled students. Admittedly, Kim wasn't really interested in all the speeches and chose instead to mentally go over in her head what she was going to say when it was her turn. Finally it was time for the valedictory address. Felix brought his chair forward to the podium and with a push of a button the chair rose off the ground completely, so he was perfectly in line with the microphone.

"Welcome, graduating seniors!" Felix exclaimed. He then began his speech as the assembled audience listened intently. Felix found that he was surprisingly relaxed speaking in front of a large group of people. Whenever he felt nervous or that the words weren't coming out right, he simply looked at Zita, who spurred him to continue by smiling or nodding her head at the points of the speech.

Halfway through the speech, Kim looked over to see how Ron was doing; not surprisingly he was only half-listening to Felix's speech. She knew that it was ferociously rude to attempt to talk to him now, but being the person she was she knew that she had to take action whenever it presented itself.

"Ron!" she whispered as loudly as possible.

"Huh?" Ron Rieger, who was seated next to Kim, said; as though she were talking to _him_.

"Not you, Rieger! My Ron!" the redhead snapped harshly.

"Huh?" Ron Stoppable looked around in a daze. "KP, is Rieger hitting on you?"

"Shh!" Bonnie, who was seated between the participants of this awkward conversation, spat with an icy glare at them.

"Ron!" Kim tried again. "Don't fear the future!"

"Yeah!" Rieger broke in. "It going to be great, everybody's going to have a robot!"

"Rieger!" Kim snapped at the boy next to her.

"What did you say Kim?" Ron strained to her what his girlfriend was trying to say to him.

"I…um…have a confession to make."

Just then applause broke out as Felix finished his speech.

_Damn it! _Kim raged silently. _I have to tell him now!_

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," Felix continued after the applause had died down, "I would like to introduce Kim Possible!" Kim gave a startled look to the stage as polite applause and some cheers rained down on her from the assembled crowd. Kim got up, squared her shoulders and strode down the aisle to the platform.

"Kim is a reminder to us all that we can do anything!"

In the stands, James Possible pressed the record button on the digital camera to capture his little _Kimmie-cub's _crowning achievement. Next to him, Anne Possible wiped a tear from her eye as she watched her only daughter make her way to the podium. Felix, meanwhile, simply gave her a nod as she passed him on the way to the microphone.

"Thank you Felix, for that most excellent speech," Kim acknowledged him as he retook his place amongst the VIPs. Kim then turned to face her audience. She felt a momentary twinge of nervousness, but quickly brushed it aside as she focused intently on the task at hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, staff, students, graduates, family and friends," Kim began. "When Felix approached me and asked if I could say a few words this evening, I was slightly taken aback. After all, he had won the vote between us fair and square."

Kim looked directly at Bonnie when she said those words. The stunt that the brunette had pulled to rig the Homecoming Queen election was still very fresh in Kim's mind, not to mention her kissing Ron right in the middle of everyone at J.P. Bearymore's. Bonnie looked about nervously, trying to avoid the redhead's gaze. She knew that her rival was still somewhat tweaked about that incident; their mutual and longstanding dislike for each other notwithstanding. Luckily, the exchange only lasted a few moments before Kim focused her attention elsewhere.

"I hoped that he wasn't looking for someone to take the attention away from him if his speech happened to tank," she joked. A rumble of laughter rolled through the stadium and Kim could feel herself and the rest of the crowd relax.

"After thinking about it, though, I suspected—and his introduction just proved it—that he was allowing me a chance to speak to you all as someone who, over the years, has had experiences not quite within the realm of a normal high school student." More laughter rang out, as Kim's statement rang very true.

"I take it from your reaction those experiences are exactly what you'd all like to hear about." Kim smiled at the audience and paused to collect her thoughts.

"To be perfectly honest, I came by my extracurricular activities quite by accident. If not for a spelling mistake in typing a web address, it's quite possible that I would be standing here in front of you, simply as an ordinary girl about to graduate. Or, maybe I wouldn't be standing here at all; preferring instead to blend in with the crowd. But isn't that what life is about? Fate stepping in and making choices that ultimately define who you are? By answering that hit on my website I chose a path that over four years later has taken to places and given me the chance to see and do things that most people only dream about.

"Make no mistake; it wasn't as easy as it seemed for me to juggle all the responsibilities I had and still be a _normal_ high school student. Between cheer practice, the swim team, all the various committees I was a part of, maintaining a strong academic record and _then_ to be called away with Ron to Tokyo on a school night to stop yet another crazy Drakken and Shego scheme… at the end of the day, even though I tried to be normal, I guess I wasn't." Kim cast her gaze over towards Ron.

"Maybe you were right, Ron. Maybe it was a good idea to 'never be normal,' as you once told me when we were sophomores."

A number of eyes caste their gaze on the blonde haired boy who was Kim Possible's sidekick and significant other. Ron felt the attention of the stadium shift to him at the mention his name. He flashed a smile and tried hard not to look to nervous in the face of this unexpected attention.

_That was for you baby,_ Kim thought warmly. _People need to know that you're not invisible, that you're not a loser and we're a team. You've been as much a part of my success as anything I've done myself._

"Please don't think that I'm complaining or that I want anyone to feel sorry for me," she continued, turning back to the crowd. "As I said, I made my choices and if I had to do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat." She stopped for a moment and focused on the graduates in front of her. "If there's anything I've learned from either inside the walls of Middleton High or out there in the field it's this: follow your dreams. Don't let anyone tell you can't do something or that something is unattainable. Believe me, there were _many_ times when people refused to take what I was doing seriously; sometimes even going as far as to tell me to stay home and let the _professionals _take care of it."

The contempt in her voice was evident as Kim thought momentarily about a certain "number one agent" who had a habit of saying that to her. She secretly loved the fact that she often took him down a peg or two in the field.

"Obviously I chose to ignore such sage advice. I must say that I've been extremely blessed with very understanding parents, as well as the teachers and administration here at Middleton. I'd like to thank all of them for letting Ron and I partake in our unusual activities during our time here, even though I'm sure that we drove Mr. Barkin nuts with our constant taking off during his classes." That earned a hearty laugh from the audience; even Mr. Barkin cracked a smile.

"At the end of the day, the best advice I can give to all of you is live you life how you want to and to the fullest. Spend time with your friends that you care for and who care for you. Do the things that you love doing. It hasn't always been easy, but I _love_ what I do and I hope I can continue to make a difference, regardless how old I am or if I have to juggle it with a career or a family; it will _always_ be a part of me.

"Make sure that you tell your parents that you love them and that you're incredibly grateful for them raising you properly. Annoy your little brothers… although to be fair, you should take them out for an ice cream afterwards for putting up with your shenanigans." Kim glanced over to where her parents and brothers were seated and smiled at them.

"Every day, do something that leaves the world a better place than how you found it… you don't have to save the world to be a hero; sometimes it only takes a simple act like cleaning up a park or helping an elderly person cross the street. I know that all of you have the power to be heroes in your own right."

Finally Kim locked eyes with Ron. When she spoke she did so in a quiet voice that almost didn't get picked up by the microphone.

"Most of all; make sure that you tell the people that hold a special place in your heart just how much you love and cherish them. Do it every day, because you may not get another chance." Ron looked on at his girlfriend in awe as she spoke these words. For her part Kim felt herself tearing up, but she managed to steady herself to finish what she started.

"All of you are like an extended family to me and I thank all of you who made my years here a most positive experience. I hope we can all stay in touch with each other as we embark on the next step in our lives; I also hope we can come back here in ten years or so and look back with fondness on what I believe was the best time of our lives. Thank you, congratulations to all of you, and good night."

The applause that rained down after she finished her speech caught Kim completely off guard. It was almost a replay of the Junior Prom when her and Ron walked in as a couple. The entire graduating class gave her a standing ovation as she walked back to her seat. Monique gave her a thumbs up sign as she passed, even Bonnie flashed a tiny smile as Kim sat down next to her. On stage, Felix couldn't contain the grin on his face that told everyone how he felt about the speech.

_Just like I though she would. Give Kim Possible the right bat and she'll hit it out of the park every single time._

* * *

Slowly the each of the graduates climbed the stage to receive their diplomas as Mr. Barkin read off the names. It wasn't long before he came to Kim's place in the order.

"Kimberly Ann Possible."

Kim climbed the steps for the second time that evening, this time to accept her high school diploma. As she took it from Mr. Barkin, she proceeded to shock everyone in attendance by wrapping her arms around the big man in a hug.

"Thanks Mr. Barkin!" she whispered in his ear.

"Uh… well, yeah…" Clearly Barkin was taken aback, clearing his throat. "Well, things are going to be boring here without you Possible." he added sheepishly.

"You've still got the Tweebs," she replied with a wink as she made her way across the stage to shake hands with Mrs. Whittler. Barkin shuddered silently at the thought of three more years with _two _Possibles causing havoc at the school. He prayed to himself that they would skip another couple of grades and graduate early.

Barkin continued to read off the names of the graduates. "Ronald James Reiger. Felix Matthew Renton." Felix maneuvered his chair over to collect his diploma.

"Bonnie Marie Rockwaller."

"Finally!" The arrogant brunette stalked across the stage, clearly in a hurry to grab her diploma and leave high school behind for good.

"Wait a minute!" Barkin's words stopped Bonnie dead in her tracks. "You blew off all your classes the last week of school."

"Uh, yeah," she retorted haughtily, _"nothing_ important happens in the last week."

"Except my pop quiz in homeroom, _which_ you missed; thus you did not pass and that makes you one credit short," Barkin smiled cruelly at Bonnie.

"NOOOOO!" she cried out in surprise and embarrassment.

"See you in summer school," Barkin smirked at the tall brunette. Bonnie broke into tears and ran crying off the stage.

Right behind Bonnie in the order, Ron could not believe what just transpired. If Barkin could do that to Bonnie in front of the whole school, what was he planning for him?

"Ronald Dean Stoppable," the Vice-Principal barked out his name and glowered at him from the podium.

Ron's mouth immediately went dry and he felt his insides tighten up. He wanted to run away in fear like he always did, but something stopped him. In his mind he conjured up the one image that could take away all the fear, pain, and feeling like a loser: the smiling face of his girlfriend Kim Possible.

_I'm not afraid anymore and I'm not going to run away. Kim stood up here on stage and gave the greatest speech ever and proved that she truly can do anything. If she can do that, I can face down Mr. Barkin._

Like a man facing the firing squad, Ron inhaled a deep breath and began to walk towards his Vice-Principal. As he got closer he tried to read the face of his tormentor, looking for any indication that Barkin would be trying to humiliate him like he had Bonnie moments ago. What he saw however, was a look in Mr. Barkin's eyes that almost looked like respect. It felt like hours, but Ron finally made it across the stage to where he was standing right in front of Barkin. Closing his eyes he held out his hand to receive his diploma, a small part of him bracing for a rejection.

Suddenly, he felt his grip tighten around a rolled piece of paper. Ron opened his eyes to the sight of his Vice-Principal, the man who had at times made his life at Middleton High a living hell, placing his diploma in his hand.

"Congratulations, Stoppable," Barkin's eyes darted around nervously and his voice was very quiet, almost to the point where it was difficult to hear. It was as if he couldn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth.

"Thanks Mr. B," Ron shook his teacher's hand then quickly blew through the line of VIP's, shaking all their hands before rushing down the stairs and back to his seat. He almost couldn't believe he had a diploma in his hand; he had done it! To be on the safe side, he wanted to make sure he was far enough away from Mr. Barkin in case he decided to change his mind.

* * *

As the last student collected their diploma and made their way off the stage Steve Barkin waited a moment. Then, in his usual booming voice, he made the proclamation that signaled the climax of the evening.

"Ladies and gentleman, I present to you the graduating class of Middleton High School for two thousand and six!"

Cheers rang out around the football stadium as three hundred students simultaneously threw their mortarboards into the air. Some cried with joy, others ran to their friends to celebrate with them. Ron surveyed the scene around him, still not believing that he was really a part of it all, when a red blur caught him completely off guard and enveloped him in a bear hug.

"We did it, baby!" the form that Ron came to recognize as his girlfriend spoke to him, the joy evident in her voice. Kim pulled back and brought her hand up to his face as she looked right into his eyes.

"You were great as usual, KP; that speech was incredible."

Sparks and passion flashed in each others eyes. This was their time; their moment and nothing would come between them to spoil it. As if they were both thinking the exact same thing, Kim and Ron brought their heads closer to each other to put into actions what their minds were screaming at them to do. Neither of them gave a damn about the PDA policy; after all they had just graduated.

"Alright people, LISTEN UP!" Barkin's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, bringing the student body crashing back to reality. "Even though you've all graduated we still have some housekeeping to take care of!"

A collective groan came from the assembled graduates. It appeared that they would not be free of Barkin's iron grip just yet. Kim and Ron looked at each other first with disappointment that their tender moment was so rudely interrupted, then with mischievous grins that indicated a desire to most definitely re-create that moment later on that evening. Their touch lingered a few seconds longer than normal as each returned to their seats.

"Alright people, the first order of business to take care of…" Mr. Barkin was interrupted a massive crashing sound followed by the scraping of metal on pavement. He looked over the far grandstand in horror as what appeared to be a giant metal insect with four legs rampaged its way through the stadium parking lot. On top of the legs was a red disc—similar to the old UFO's from the fifties—with a bright red beacon on top, its light pulsing eerily. As it moved its legs, Barkin could see cars in the lot being thrown around like toys, crashing to the ground loudly as they were flung in every direction. Beyond the far side of the stadium, another, identical machine stomped towards them, throwing dirt and debris with every step it took.

Steve Barkin, who had experienced the horrors of war—not to mention everything that went on in the halls of his school—stood there frozen in place until a part of his brain finally kicked into gear… unfortunately, it was the "flight" part. "Run, people!" he screamed in terror. "It's the end of the world!"

The entire stadium fell into panic and chaos. Parents and students each ran in a hundred different directions, trying to escape from the marauding machines. All except a blond-haired young man, who looked upon the scene unfolding in front of him with an expression of shock, awe and vindication on his face.

"Oh!" Ron screamed to no one in particular. "Am I the _only_ one here who saw this coming?"

**To be Continued...**


	2. Part 2

_This took quite a while but I finally managed to get the second part of my story up. Thanks to Sentinel103, Comet Moon, Shockwave88, screaming phoenix, and of course CajunBear73 for the reviews. Also thank you to everyone who has put me on their story alert or made it their favorite._

_Extra special thanks to DeucesWild for the always excellent beta job. Now, on with the show!_

* * *

Graduation: Part 2

A hovercraft sped through the Colorado night sky. On board were two figures; one hunched over the onboard databank checking and re-checking the readings while the other piloted the craft towards its destination. From the ground, the craft appeared as only a vapor trail that could barely be seen with the naked eye; its speed approaching Mach one. Even though they were slightly less than 100 miles from their destination, from the deck of the hovercraft the pilot could just make out the lights of the Tri-Cities coming into view.

"We're getting close, Dr. D," the green skinned woman piloting the craft called to her other passenger.

"Excellent, Shego," the blue skinned scientist replied, "soon my plan will come to fruition!"

"Yeah…" she intoned dryly, "let's hope that it works better than all the other ones; _which_, if I recall, never do."

"Nnngh!" Dr. Drakken gritted his teeth and made a face at his raven haired companion. "Have some faith in me, Shego; this time I cannot fail! This will be my _greatest_ plan ever!"

Shego blinked her jade green eyes at her employer before breaking out into peals of laughter. It was a good thing that the hovercraft was on auto pilot; otherwise it was conceivable they would have crashed as a result of the mercenary's outburst. "I'm sorry Dr. D," she snickered as she wiped a tear from her eye, "but you're just so damn funny when you get all worked up about your plans like that!"

"Laugh it up, Shego!" Drakken responded indignantly. "You saw what that _thing_ did to the Caribbean lair; imagine what it would have done to me if you hadn't saved me from it! I suppose I should thank you for that," he grudgingly added.

The green villainess pondered his statement for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right; if I hadn't saved you from that thing, it would have been a terrible tragedy."

"You really mean that Shego?" Drakken asked hopefully.

"Well, yeah; I mean, if you weren't here, who'd pay my dental benefits?"

"Why do I even bother?" Drakken sighed as he ran his hand over his face.

"Hey, come on…" the green hued woman smiled at the pony-tailed scientist, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You know I'm just giving you a hard time. You want the honest truth? Without you the world would be kind of boring."

Drakken didn't really know how to respond to the sincere complement. "Thank you Shego," was all he could muster.

"Don't let it go to your head Doc," she replied dryly as she turned back to the control panel. "Oh, by the way; your petals are showing again," she added with a smirk.

Drakken grabbed the flower petals that continually grew out of his neck since the incident with the super hypollenator and attempted to pull them out, but to no avail. No sooner would he tear off the petals and more would grow back in their place. Shego turned back to face him and snickered but also offered a small smile.

"We've got less than fifty miles until we hit Middleton; guess we'll find out if a plan _finally_ works for you," she mocked, "but I suppose… even a blind pig can find a truffle."

_She's being sarcastic as usual, _Drakken thought to himself, _but something's different; it's like… she's doing it in a playful manner. Almost as if she genuinely cared about me. I wonder… _Drakken looked over at the mercenary with whom he had worked closely for the past several years.

_Even though she's cranky, smart mouthed, and prone to excessive violence, she is definitely an attractive woman…gahh! Drew Lipsky, get those thoughts out of your head,_ he chided himself silently. _You don't have time to make eyes at your employees, even if you've known them for the last five years. You need to focus on your plan! _The mad scientist looked at the approaching lights of the Tri-Cities and an almost predatory grin broke out across his face. _Once you implement your plan the world will truly know the genius of Dr. Drakken!_

* * *

"Ron!"

Ron Stoppable had been frozen in place as total chaos was occurring all around him. For a moment, he felt completely lost in the churning sea of panicked people crashing around his physical space, but the voice calling out to him provided him with the anchor that grounded him in one spot and brought him back to reality. Turning around, he came face to face with the deep green eyes and fiery red hair of his girlfriend, Kim Possible.

"We've got to go after those things, Ron!" she snapped as she quickly tied the yellow sash from her gown around her waist and grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the crowd that had fled onto the field during the machines' assault.

"Uh, do you think that's such a good idea, Kim?" Ron asked as she dragged him towards the bleachers. "I mean, did you see how those things tore through the parking lot?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Ron?" Kim demanded of the towheaded young man in front of her. "_My_ boyfriend wouldn't be scared of a bunch of oversized can openers and he would _certainly_ be willing to follow me into battle if I asked him to," she said, giving him a demure smile.

"Well, since you put it that way…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"That's more like it," she said as she continued to lead him through the throng, her eyes scanning the bleachers ahead. Throughout all the people, noise, and utter chaos, the teen heroine still managed to spy the unmistakable red hair of her mother, standing with her husband, the Tweebs and Ron's parents; all of them searching the crowd for either of them. "Mom!" she called, waving at her mother to attract her attention.

"Kimmie, thank God! Are you and Ron ok?" the elder redhead called back to them as relief washed across her face.

"We're fine, Mom; but we need to go after those machines! Can we borrow your van?" Kim pleaded.

"Wait a minute, Kimmie-cub!" James Possible interjected. "I understand if you and Ron want to go after those…_things_, but I don't know about you two using the family van. Can't you just get Wade to find you a ride like he usually does?"

"No time, Dad!" she replied, looking to her mother for support. There was no way that Kim was willing to spend all night arguing with her parents about the sitch and if it meant bringing out the heavy artillery to get her way, so be it. She was a second away from breaking out the most devastating Puppy Dog Pout she could muster when her mother reached into her purse and threw the keys to the van.

"It's alright, dear," Anne Possible addressed her husband. "The van _is_ insured, after all… besides, I've wanted a new car for awhile."

James looked flabbergasted and started to protest but was cut off as she continued. "Kim's an adult now and I trust her and Ron to take care of themselves, just like all the other times they've gone off to save the world. Honey, you need to let go and let your daughter and potential son-in-law go do what they do best." By the time she'd finished her assertion, everyone else in the group gaped in stunned silence at her.

James hadn't even fathomed the possibility of Kim graduating from high school, let alone getting married … and to _Ron?_ Were his wife and daughter hiding something from him?

The Possible patriarch's mind was barely functioning, but he did manage to keep a grip on the central idea of him being opposed to Kim taking her mother's car on a mission; even if that mission was to save the world. "But…what if the van isn't even there?" he continued to protest. "Did you see what those machines did to the cars in the lot?"

"Don't make me use the _pout_ dear…" Anne shot her husband an icy stare that essentially ended the discussion.

"Fine…" he grudgingly agreed.

"Thanks, Mom!" Kim beamed at her mother.

"You're welcome, Kim. We'll stay behind and make sure everyone's ok and help Mr. Barkin restore some order; now hurry up and get going you two," the neurosurgeon prodded, pointing in the general direction of the parking lot.

Kim turned to her boyfriend to see he had removed his cap and gown, revealing his familiar hockey jersey and beige cargo pants underneath. "You wore _that_ under your gown?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey, the Ron man is all about being comfortable, even when he's graduating!" he pronounced proudly. He looked down at the feet of his girlfriend. "Speaking of comfort, can you run in high heels, KP?"

"Guess I'm about to find out," she quipped as she grabbed his hand again and let him down the stairs of the bleachers and towards the stadium exit.

* * *

"Sweet Jesus, would you look at this!" Shego breathed as the hovercraft entered the Middleton city limits.

Even though they were on the outskirts of town, Shego and Drakken could both clearly see the destruction wrought on the city beneath them by the giant walkers. Cars were thrown in every direction; entire stands of trees had been uprooted and buildings were damaged extensively. It wasn't hard to follow the path of destruction directly to the city centre where, in the distance, the mercenary and the mad scientist could see six of the machines surrounding downtown Middleton, as if they were guarding the city centre.

Even more awe inspiring was overhead and slightly to the east of downtown. Hovering above the city was a giant ship. It was obvious that this ship was not made by human engineering and, like the giant machines; it too pulsed with an eerie red glow.

"Look at the markings on that ship," Drakken stated grimly as their craft approached the giant vessel. "It has the same markings as the machine you fought on our island and the same markings as the ones on the ground. There is only one person with that kind of world dominating technology in this universe…Warmonga!"

"You mean the nine foot tall alien that thought you were the 'Great Blue' and tried to take over the world with you?" Shego asked. "Meh, she doesn't scare me, I fought her pretty well the last time we tangled."

"Umm…" the mad scientist interjected, "perhaps my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I seem to recall you weren't quite on your game that day you fought her."

Shego glared at him. "Alright, fine! Even more reason for me to want to settle the score with her. First, one of her machines destroys the lair, then they try to kill you… but you know what really pisses me off?" He meekly shook his head, prompting the malachite mercenary to continue. "That alien bitch tried to take Kimmie down! No one—and I mean _no one—_touches the princess before I do!" she scowled intently.

_Ok, this is plain weird_, _even more than that time with the Moodulator,_ Drakken thought to himself. _Either she's completely forgotten the fact that I nearly betrayed her by teaming up with Warmonga in an attempt to finally defeat Kim Possible, or for some reason she just doesn't care. But I know her so well, there's no way she could've forgiven me for that, could she? _He looked directly at his sidekick but said nothing as the ship flew towards the centre of Middleton.

_Shego, what are you hiding from me?_

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two career criminals, their two nemeses had already made it to the city centre. Luckily for Kim and Ron, the Possible's van had survived the initial attack and was still in the same parking spot from when they left it earlier in the evening. Kim, Ron and Rufus—who had been in the cramped confines of Ron's pocket the entire evening—quickly jumped in and, with Kim driving, tore off towards the centre of Middleton. Neither teen said a word during the drive; both were in awe of the destruction caused by the Lowardian walkers.

Following the main road to the city centre, both Kim and Ron could plainly see the giant spacecraft hovering over the centre of their hometown. "What the hell is that thing?" Kim finally broke the silence.

"I don't know, but it seems familiar… like I've seen it before," Ron thought out loud. Looking to his right, his eyes went wide with terror. "Kim, look out!" he screamed.

To their right another walker came into view. Kim cranked the wheel hard to the left and just managed to swerve in time to avoid the giant leg of the machine. Gunning the engine, she drove directly under the behemoth; narrowly missing the other legs that crashed behind them.

The walker sensed the presence of the vehicle and gave chase, deploying its primary laser and firing at them. Kim used evasive maneuvers to dodge the blasts as they tore trees in half and launched parked cars into the air.

"KP!" Ron screamed from the passenger seat as a car came crashing down into the path of the vehicle.

"I see it!" Kim retorted as she turned the wheel hard to the right and just missed hitting the flaming wreckage. Thankfully, Ron was wearing a seatbelt, or he would have been thrown all over the vehicle from all the swerving and dodging.

Rufus, however, wasn't as lucky as he was bounced off the door and then onto the floor. Chatters of pain and anger could be heard as the mole rat was then thrown under the rear seat from the sudden acceleration.

"Sorry little buddy!" Ron called back to his best non-human friend. "Kind of a life-and-death situation right now!"

Kim pushed the accelerator as far to the floor as she could muster wearing heels and the minivan's four cylinder engine groaned, trying to increase its speed. It turned out to be enough, though; as they approached the outskirts of downtown, they managed to put some distance between them and the alien device.

"That was way too close for comfort," she breathed as they finally relaxed.

"Yeah, but I think it slowed down as we entered the downtown core," Ron remarked. "Look around you Kim; it looks like the downtown is surrounded by these machines."

"I think you're right," Kim responded. "Why do you suppose they're all just sitting there? It's like they're waiting for something."

"Or maybe they're guarding something," Ron offered as Rufus crawled back onto his lap, rubbing his head with his paw.

Both Ron and Kim looked at each other nervously. Were the machines chasing them towards the centre of the city and into a trap?

* * *

Kim guided the van through the now-deserted streets of Middleton towards the centre of town. Turning left onto Main Street, they headed directly towards Middleton City Hall. As the civic complex came into view, they could see the giant ship high in the air directly behind the main council chamber building. Kim stopped the van a couple of blocks away from the complex and she, Ron, and Rufus, made the rest of the journey on foot.

On approach, the two teens and naked mole rat could hear what sounded like a voice coming over a loudspeaker system. Kim and Ron reached the sidewalk in front of the council chamber building and looked up at the dome that adorned the roof (Middleton City Hall was modeled on the Capitol building in Washington, DC; only on a smaller scale).

Directly over the peak of the dome were two figures standing on matching hoverboards. Both individuals had green skin and large muscular builds and were both carrying what looked like rods tipped with steel spears. Even though they were high above the dome of city hall, they both appeared to be almost ten feet tall and struck a menacing site for the two teen heroes.

As it turned out, the voice that they thought was coming from a loudspeaker was the voice of one of the beings. It also turned out that the female was not using a loudspeaker system at all to project her voice; rather her voice was so powerful that it could be heard for miles around.

"Citizens of Middleton!" she thundered, addressing the empty city. "I am Warmonga! I come from the great planet Lowardia with my partner in battle, Warhok! We have traveled many light years to come to this wretched city on this primitive planet so we may seek out the Earth girl who defeated me! We demand that she show herself or be brought to me so I may be allowed revenge! The honor of a Lowardian warrior demands that it shall be done! If you do not allow her to come or if she is too cowardly to show herself, we will raze your city to the ground and make you all our slaves! You will all become subservient to the great and powerful Lowardia!"

Next to Warmonga, Warhok let a sneer cross his features. Once his battle mate settled her score with the earth girl he would implement the second phase of their plan; namely the conquering of Earth. He was certain that the puny earthlings and their pathetic technology would be no match for superior Lowardian weaponry and tactics. Indeed, his giant walkers were performing the task set out for them admirably, guarding the city centre so no one could escape or enter.

Warhok also knew that the one person that could and would try to enter the city centre to stop them was also the reason for their being on Earth. His partner had sensed her presence on this area of the planet and insisted that they come here to find her. She also sensed when Kim and Ron made their attempt to go after the marauding walkers and instructed Warhok to let them pass into the downtown core so their final confrontation could come to pass.

Beneath the two aliens on the sidewalk, Kim seethed with anger. How dare these two intruders of her planet come to her hometown, trash the place and terrorize the population? How dare they come to Middleton and threaten people with slavery… on her graduation night of all nights! She would show these two uninvited guests just what she was all about. She was the "girl-who-could-do-anything" and tonight she would give Warmonga her wish for a fight!

"So!" Kim growled in the direction of the two alien invaders. "It looks like payback is the sitch!"

"Uh… KP, I think you mean payback's a _bitch_," Ron corrected her.

"Ron! Random much?" Kim chastised him.

"Hey, I'm just saying…" Ron shrugged his shoulders at her.

A cruel smile formed on Warmonga's face. "So, you have appeared before me; just as my battle mate had predicted. Excellent, let us finish our fight once and for all!"

"I'm ready when you are, Greenie!" Kim mocked the nine-foot tall alien.

"Are you sure about this Kim?" Ron muttered an edge of panic in his voice.

"As sure as anything I've ever felt in my life, baby," Kim responded with a determined look on her face.

Warmonga pointed her hoverboard down towards the two teens and readied her staff. "For the glory of Lowardia!" she bellowed.

Pushing a button on her bracelet, the rockets on the rear of the board roared to life and she began to descend towards Kim and Ron at increasing speed. Kim just gritted her teeth in anticipation while Ron stood there with a look of terror in his eyes. Warmonga sneered confidently; raising her staff into battle position she planned on eliminating this bratty Earth girl and her companion in one single blow.

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, Warmonga sensed something was not right. This was abruptly confirmed when she felt a bright green light fill her space; followed by the physical aftershock of being thrown violently from her hoverboard and onto the ground.

"Now, Ron!" Kim yelled to her boyfriend and they—along with Rufus—dove out of the way of the hoverboard, which was still hurtling towards them minus its rider. The board impacted with the ground where they both stood a moment before and exploded into a giant fireball, forming a crater at the point of impact with the sidewalk.

After regaining their senses after the explosion, Kim and Ron looked in the direction of the green light and were quite shocked to see the site that greeted them. "Sorry honey," Shego sneered from the hovercraft, "but on _my_ planet, the only person who gets to kick Kimmie's biscuit is _me!"_

"Shego?" Kim asked hesitantly.

"Hiya, Princess!" the dark haired villainess cheerfully addressed her. "You didn't think that me and Dr. D were going to miss all the fun, now, did you?"

Meanwhile, Warmonga had picked herself off the pavement after her less than pleasant landing. Upon her hard collision with the middle of the street, Warhok had flown down to check on her condition.

"This cannot be!" she thundered. "The one who deceived me as the Great Blue and his battle mate! Our walker was supposed to have destroyed you and your lair that lay on one of this puny planet's islands!"

"Ok, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Shego interrupted. "Yeah ok… the two teens over there are the 'thing,' but me and Drakken; no way! As for the lair, well… when you work with this guy long enough, you get used to having things being destroyed." For some reason Drakken felt very hurt by her comments, and it wasn't from the crack about the lair being destroyed.

"It appears that denial is not just a river on your planet," Warmonga shot back at Shego with a knowing look.

"Grrr… deny this!" Shego shouted as she let some more plasma fly. Both the aliens had to duck out of the way of the flying blasts of green fire.

"Warmonga!" the female screamed as she pulled her blaster gun out of its holster and let loose a barrage at Shego. The green suited criminal leapt out of the hovercraft to avoid the laser blast, but unfortunately she forgot to take her boss with her. The blast slammed into the side of the craft, sending it flying down the street.

"Doctor D!" Shego screamed as she watched the craft spin out of control and disappear from her direct line of sight.

After a few moments everyone within range could hear the sound of a muffled thud followed by smoke billowing from a couple of blocks away. Shego had managed to land on her feet, picked herself up and began running in the direction of the downed ship. _I gotta make sure he's alright!_ Shego thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Kim surveyed the situation. She wasn't quite sure, but something didn't seem right with her archenemy. Why was she so concerned with Drakken? "I'm going to go after her; you stay here and take care of those two!" she informed Ron as she ran after Shego.

Ron swallowed hard. There was no way he could take on _both_ the Lowardians. Fortunately for him, though, his inherent dumb luck held up once again.

"Give me your hoverboard," she informed Warhok. "You take care of the Earth boy…I will follow the Earth girl and the _annoying_ green one…"

Warhok smiled. He hoped that the yellow haired Earth boy would provide enough of a challenge worthy of his time.

* * *

"Alright Shego, what's the _sitch_?" Kim growled as she caught up to the green skinned villainess.

"Oh hi, _Kimmie_," the mercenary smiled sweetly but the sarcasm practically dripped from her voice. "Nice weather we're having don't you think?"

"Cut the crap, Shego!" the redhead shot back and stepped in front of the mercenary, effectively blocking her path. "First I get my graduation wrecked by a bunch of marauding space junk; then, on the way over here, I—along with my boyfriend—get chased and nearly crushed by the damn things. When I finally get here, I find out that the people behind this entire fiasco are a couple of alien jerks with their underwear all in a bunch and then, to top it all off, you and Drakken conveniently show up. To say that I'm having a lousy day is the understatement of the century, so you better tell me just what the hell is going on…unless you want to get your butt whipped like all the other times!" she finished, glaring daggers at her arch enemy.

Shego glared back at her teenage nemesis with equal intensity. "Let's get something straight, _Princess_… any other time I would be kicking your skinny little ass even before you opened your big mouth, but lucky for you I don't have time right now." She tried to maneuver around Kim but the redhead stood her ground.

"Any time, any place, Shego; I'm in need of some serious stress relief and beating on you looks pretty good right now."

The two martial artists continued to stare each other down, each daring the other to strike first. Finally, the raven haired criminal came to the realization that this standoff wouldn't be resolved by anything other than violence and she really didn't have time to waste fighting with Kim. "Ok, you win," she held up her hands in resignation, "I'll tell you what the deal is."

"I'm all ears, girlfriend."

Shego grimaced but continued. "Well… after you and your boy toy trashed our mountain lair—_as usual—_we needed to find a place to stay. Of course, seeing that his lairs are always being destroyed, you have to hand it to Drakken for at least having the foresight to maintain a couple of spares. I mean, if he put that kind of planning into the rest of his work, maybe some of his crazy schemes would actually work once in awhile…" Kim gave her a raised eyebrow along with an is-there-a-point-stare, so Shego continued. "So imagine our surprise when we get to the Caribbean lair and find one of these tin cans with legs waiting for us."

"Nice to see I'm not the only one who has to deal with these things," Kim remarked. "So what happened?"

"The usual; Drakken ran around screaming like a little girl and I had to bail him out," Shego grinned. "Good thing those pieces of junk are slow, clunky, and stupid. Didn't even have to use the plasma," she added while holding up one of her clawed gloves for emphasis.

"That still doesn't explain what you two are doing here," Kim demanded as they ran down the street, searching for the hovercraft.

"You're probably not going to believe me, Kim; but what the hell, I'll enlighten you anyway," the villainess and earned another glare from the redhead as she explained. "After I destroyed the walker Drakken hacked into its onboard computer. Turns out it was some kind of alien language. It's a good thing Drakken invented a universal translator; otherwise we'd still be figuring it out ten years from now. That's when we started discovering all this crazy information in its brain about an attack on earth. Not only that, we also discovered that they were being controlled by a signal, and the signal's source was somewhere in the skies over Colorado."

"So you put two and two together and figured it had to do with me," Kim prompted.

"Yeah, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out," Shego acknowledged. "Communications for the most part were all screwed up, but we managed to get a feed on an old decommissioned satellite that Drakken used to pirate satellite TV and we saw reports of these same machines running amok in Middleton. Well… you should have seen him; Drakken got this crazy look in his eye then he started going on about his _greatest plan ever!_"

"And that would be…?" Kim gave Shego a blank look.

"His plan was to come here and use the hypollenator to defeat the aliens."

"_What?"_ the teen heroine exclaimed in disbelief.

"Funny, that's what I said," Shego remarked dryly, "but he was serious. He was going to use a world domination invention to _save_ the world instead. Talk about irony."

"Uh… how confident were you in your plan working?" Kim asked hesitantly.

"Are you kidding?" Shego retorted. "This is Drakken we're talking about; when has a plan _ever_ worked for him?"

"Actually, I wasn't referring to his habitual inability to execute a plan," Kim said, pointing to the huge crater with smoke billowing out of it halfway down the street, "I was referring to that."

"Damn!" Shego swore as the two women ran to the edge of the crater. "I have to get him out of there!" When they got to the edge of the massive hole, the mint-skinned woman called out to her employer with notable concern in her voice. "Drew? Are you ok? Answer me!"

"Drew? Since when are we on a first name basis with your boss?" Kim asked with an arched eyebrow and an all-knowing tone in her voice. When Shego averted her eyes, the teen knew she was on to something. "You do care about him!" she exclaimed with a hint of glee in her voice.

"This is neither the time nor place, _Kimmie_!" Shego exploded, then her tone of voice changed. "I think I see his feet moving down there; I'm going down to check." Before she could climb down the side of the crater, however, both women felt the ground shudder and heard a menacing voice behind them.

"Warmonga!" The nine foot tall alien warrior was speeding towards them on Warhok's board with malice in her eyes.

"Great; just great," Shego grumbled. "Ok, here's the plan: you distract the alien while I dig Drakken out."

Kim thought for a moment then smiled. "I'd be happy to, Shego," she replied.

_Wow, that's a first! I guess she really thinks she __**can**__ do anything! _Shego thought to herself as she jumped into the crater to retrieve her boss.

The impact must have been particularly violent, as Shego found the hovercraft in one piece but lying nearly ten feet below street level. Searching quickly, she found the prone form of the mad scientist lying on the floor of the craft. He was lucky; the hovercraft had been partially buried on the back end by concrete and dirt, but the front part—where he was when it crashed—remained exposed.

"Drakken!" she shook the mad scientist to wake him.

"Mmm…" Drakken stirred. "What happened...? Shego, what are you doing here?"

"No time to explain, Dr. D; I gotta get this thing out of here!" she replied as she punched in a few commands and the craft's engines shuddered to life. Engaging the thrusters on the craft, the malachite mercenary managed to dislodge the ship from the debris after a couple of tries and slowly guided it up out of the crater.

When they were topside she surveyed the situation. In front of her was a furious battle between Kim and Warmonga that looked like it had destroyed most of the street in front of her. Warmonga was attacking Kim from her board with her battle staff, but the young cheerleader was managing to dodge and weave away from the alien's increasingly violent attacks. For her part, Shego was in awe of how Kim even had that kind of mobility while wearing high heels.

Unfortunately for the red-haired heroine, her strategy was having the opposite effect; as she was beginning to tire and the green skinned alien seemed to become stronger the longer they fought. Shego could see that Kim was barely dodging Warmonga and she knew that her teenage counterpart wouldn't be able to continue this for long.

"Doc!" she shouted to her still groggy companion. "Where's the fire hose on this thing?"

"In the compartment on your right," Drakken replied. "I took the liberty of hooking it up to the tank containing the hypollenator solution before we left."

"Great thinking Drew; if we ever had a fire on board this thing we'd have nothing to put it out with!" Shego hollered at the mad scientist. Stopping mid-rant, she expelled a resigned sigh. "Whatever; lets just hope this works!"

Shego pulled the hose from the compartment and pushed a button on the panel to get pressure in the line. Once the meter read full pressure, she aimed the nozzle at Warmonga and opened the spray valve. A greenish solution came flying out of the hose at high speed and knocked the marauding alien off her board and to the ground, soaking her in the process.

"What is this foolishness?" Warmonga bellowed while coughing and sputtering on the solution as she got back to her feet. "You think you can defeat the mighty Warmonga with this…goop? I will crush you like a Zantha weed on my home planet!" she roared.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Shego snarked as vines began sprouting all around Warmonga. The hypollenator solution was having it's desired effect as a mass of flowers began to bloom; their roots binding together to trap the nine-foot tall alien in a mass of foliage.

"Frackle! This cannot be!" she cried as the flowers bound her tightly and she fell to the ground.

"Alright, Kimmie; let's go!" Shego shouted as she brought the craft down to where Kim was standing. "Get your butt in here and let's go rescue that boyfriend of yours!"

Kim didn't think twice as she hopped into the hovercraft and they sped back towards city hall.

* * *

"So, tell me dude; have you ever been in a situation where your girlfriend heading off to the stars and you were stuck on Earth… or whatever that planet's called again?" Ron inquired to the hulking alien warrior in front of him.

"When I am finished with you and your puny race, I promise that you will never forget the name of my planet," Warhok replied menacingly.

"Uh…that doesn't really answer either of my questions."

"I am Warhok; Battle Lord of the 9th House of Lowardia! I have never been defeated in combat for over two hundred years!"

"Ok, well that sort of answers one of my questions. By the way, when you say 'battle mate,' does mean the same as 'significant other' or 'special someone'?" Ron inquired. "I mean, I'm assuming that you two are an item but I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything… I mean, believe me when I say I've mistaken the intentions of girls more than once in my life… "

"Silence!" the alien roared. "Warhok will not be distracted by the puny human and his idiotic questions! Now fight me!"

"Actually dude, I'm not much of a fighter; I'm more of a mad running away type of guy. I mean, I have that monkey power but it kind of comes and goes; you know what I mean?" An even more menacing look came over Warhok's face as he contemplated what manner of pain he should inflict on this annoying human boy with his ridiculous questions.

Ron expected his adversary to understand exactly what he was talking about. He figured that two guys hanging out talking about their significant others was a universal thing, but apparently this wasn't the case as he narrowly avoided Warhok's battle staff crashing down on the pavement.

"Whoa, dude! Hey, I understand if you don't like talking about relationship stuff; really, I get it! But you don't have to try to impale me!"

The muscular alien decided the time to play around was over. "Warhok will not be ignored any longer!" he bellowed, swinging his staff in an attempt to finish Ron with one swift blow. However, Warhok was not aware that he was fighting Ron Stoppable, the master of running away. He managed to roll out of the way of the attack and then in one motion got to his feet and began to run away, enraging the nine-foot tall alien even further.

"Pathetic human!" he roared. "Return at once and battle with me; honor demands that you fight me!"

"Sorry, dude; but my honor demands that I run away. If you want me, then you'll have to catch me!" Ron taunted the alien.

"Slagg!" he swore. "Very well, human; prepare to _die!"_ With a mighty cry, the alien began running towards Ron.

Ron gulped and took off as fast as he could. "Oh man, Rufus; I hope this works. Seriously, why can't I just keep my stupid mouth shut sometimes?"

"Hrnk! Beats me!" the naked mole rat squeaked in his pocket.

Ron led Warhok on a chase around Middleton City Hall that felt like an eternity to him. Using every ounce of strength he had in his legs, he managed to stay far enough in front of the marauding alien to avoid being caught. Unfortunately, even Ron's mad running away skills had its limits, and he found himself getting tired while his opponent seemed to be gaining strength.

Finally, after their second lap around the building, Ron staggered to the front steps of the building and collapsed totally exhausted. Seeing his prey was now vulnerable, Warhok strode up to the steps of the building with a smug look on his face. He was in no hurry now that his triumph was at hand.

"It ends now, _human_!" the monstrous alien growled as he raised his battle staff and prepared to administer the final blow. Ron braced for the inevitable end, but suddenly noticed the distinct whine of a hovercraft engine and a familiar voice calling out.

"Alright, Kim; now!" Shego screamed. From on board the hovercraft, Kim pushed the nozzle lever and began spraying Warhok with green liquid.

"What is this?" Warhok screamed as he was knocked to the ground by the force of the spray. Suddenly, vines began sprouting from his body and completely enveloped him. He fell to the ground, completely immobilized.

"Well, that takes care of both of them," Shego observed. "Nice shooting, Kimmie," she turned to her red haired companion.

"It was no big," Kim replied. Jumping out of the hovercraft, she ran quickly to her boyfriend's side. "Ron, how are you doing?" she asked once she'd reached him.

"Never been better KP," he replied between sucking in breaths.

"Riiight," Kim drawled as she gave him a look, "you look pretty spent to me."

Meanwhile on the hovercraft, Dr. Drakken positively beamed. "You see, Shego?" he announced to his sidekick triumphantly. "A plan finally worked for me!"

"Yeah, yeah; don't let it go to your head." Shego retorted as she hopped down from the hovercraft. Looking back at him, she continued. "Since you've proven your genius to us all, you can go take care of those machines while you're at it."

The blue skinned scientist muttered something under his breath, but then got a determined look on his face. "Very well; I shall take care of the alien walkers myself. Just remember, Shego, when I get all the recognition for saving the world don't go and get all jealous." He grinned at his green-hued partner.

"Okey-dokey!" Shego mock saluted her boss. Drakken sighed and guided the craft back into the air and in the direction of one of the machines guarding the outskirts of downtown. She watched him leave then turned back to her teenage companions. "So, I guess that's that, huh? What will the two of you do now?"

"I guess we'll go back to the school once Drakken clears out those machines and see how everyone is doing," Kim responded.

"Yeah, I kinda figured it was graduation day; either that or what little fashion sense you had went out the window," the mint-skinned woman teased, smiling at Kim. "You know what, Princess? For what it's worth…congratulations; you too, Sidekick."

"Thanks… I think," Kim replied, taken aback by her rival's kindness.

Sensing this, Shego continued. "Don't think that I'm going soft or anything; we're not best friends yet," she frowned. "That being said, it was good working _with_ you for a change."

"You know what Shego, for what it's worth I'm tending to agree with you," Kim grinned at her arch enemy, but it soon turned to a look of abject horror. "Shego, look out behind you!" she screamed.

Shego turned around in confusion just in time to get hit full on by a plasma blast which knocked her to the ground. Getting up slowly, she saw that the person who had blasted her was none other than Warmonga.

"Puny humans, did you think mere plants could contain me?" she sneered as she pointed her blaster gun at Shego's head

"Stupid alien, did you think a plasma blast would slow _me_ down?" Shego replied with her own sneer. "Kimmie kicked me into a live electrical transformer once: all it did was frizz my hair and piss me off! Which, by the way…" she added, "is how I'm feeling right about now!"

Shego leapt to her feet and charged at Warmonga, but the alien was ready for her. She brandished her battle staff and, when Shego leapt at her, took a swing worthy of Babe Ruth and knocked the mercenary right out of mid-air. The impact sent Shego flying through the air and through the windshield of a parked car.

"Now I will take care of both of you!" Warmonga snarled at the two teens. Ron chose this moment to stand his ground.

"Run KP," he told his girlfriend in an undertone, "I'll take care of this alien pest."

"No way Ron," Kim retorted. "I'm not leaving your side, ever."

Ron felt a surge of warmth fill his body at his girlfriend's words. Unfortunately, it was at that moment he let his guard down, and Warmonga chose that moment to strike. She again swung her staff and caught him right in the mid-section, sending him flying ten feet towards the sidewalk.

"Ron!" Kim's scream was cut short by having to dodge an attack by Warmonga.

She managed to dodge her foe's staff with a back flip but as she came out of the acrobatic move, her brain felt like it had exploded and everything went black. Warhok had managed to free himself from his floral binds and delivered a blow to the back of Kim's head with his staff, knocking her unconscious. Ron picked himself off the pavement just in time to see Warhok pick Kim up by her legs and hold her up like a trophy.

"Come, my dear; we will take this one as a trophy. She will look handsome next to your Thorgaggle spine," he addressed Warmonga tenderly.

At the site of the one person who he cared about more than life itself about to be mounted like a prize marlin, something snapped in Ron's brain. The thought of losing the woman he loved was more than he could bear. But before he could rush to Kim's aid, the voice of his sensei suddenly filled his head.

"_Summon the Mystical Monkey Power! You are the Monkey Master!"_

"I am?" Ron said aloud.

"_This is your destiny. You are ready,"_ was his sensei's reply.

Ron stood up with a look of incredible determination on his face. "I am!"

Walking purposefully towards the alien holding his best friend by the ankles and called out to him. "Hey, Warhok; put her down and let's dance!"

Both aliens looked over at the blonde haired boy then each other and smirked. Warhok threw Kim roughly to the side and began striding towards Ron. Finally, the human had decided to fight with honor.

Ron, meanwhile, had a noticeable blue glow in his eyes and a faint glow surrounded his body. Somehow this new power of his managed to stir Kim back to consciousness and she looked on as her boyfriend faced off against the menacing alien warrior.

Warhok broke into a charge, his battle staff held high. Ron did a back flip and kicked the massive warrior in the mid-section, knocking him back. Initially stunned by the attack, Warhok exchanged glances with Warmonga, and then picked himself up for another charge.

Ron should have been scared to death, but instead he felt very much at peace. When Warhok attempted to strike him, he simply blocked the blow with his arms. Rather than do damage the blows glanced harmlessly off the teen's forearms, a distinct blue aura exploding after every strike, combined with what sounded like a thousand monkeys screaming. Warhok rained strike after strike down on Ron, but none of them had any effect whatsoever.

When the alien warrior began to tire, Ron sensed that his opening had come. Channeling all his power to his hands, he concentrated all of his energy to one point on Warhok's body. When Warhok tried one more overhead strike, Ron pressed his outstretched hands against the warrior's mid-section. The force was incredible; Warhok was sent flying through the air and smashing through one of the statues adorning the steps of City Hall.

Warmonga ran over to her dazed battlemate. Looking at each other, they knew that they had underestimated this scrawny boy and they would need to fight together to defeat him. Ron, meanwhile, had hoped they would do exactly that. As the two warriors began flanking him, he began levitating off the ground; his entire body bathed in a blue light. When Warmonga attacked from the rear, Ron spun around and grabbed her hard by the wrists.

Thinking he had him, Warhok began to attack simultaneously, but Ron had the upper hand. He grabbed both their wrists and spun the two aliens around. Calling on strength he never thought he had, he threw them as hard and as far as he possibly could in the air.

As it turned out, Ron managed to throw them directly in the path of their ship which was still suspended high above Middleton. Whether it was his "Ron Factor" or just dumb luck, when the aliens impacted with their ship they landed directly below the main reactor core. This caused a chain reaction that caused the ship to explode into hundreds of fireballs. Ron looked up at the explosions and, with complete satisfaction, mouthed a single word…

"Booyah!"

He was about to check on Kim when a flash of light directly overhead got his attention. The alien ship's reactor core had just suffered a complete meltdown and was going nuclear. The flash of the explosion lit up the night sky like it was daytime, and the shockwave from the blast quickly spread across the sky. Ron realized with horror that he and Kim were directly in its path.

_Oh, no,_ he thought. _That blast wave will destroy everything in its path! I have to get to Kim; I have to protect her!_

Moving as fast as he could, Ron sprinted to where Kim lay, knowing he only had seconds before the blast wave would hit the ground. She was looking right at him; her emerald eyes pleading with him to save her before they were both incinerated by the wall of flame rapidly approaching them. In a last ditch effort, Ron used all his remaining power to dive at Kim, a blue glow completely surrounding him.

_I love Kim more than anything in this world; I would do anything for her… I have to protect her_! Ron thought as he dove on top of her, his blue glow enveloping them both milliseconds before the shockwave hit.

* * *

_Thank you as always for reading and reviewing...I will try to get the final chapter out as soon as possible. Until then a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!_

_J/K_


	3. Epilogue

_A/N: Sorry this took so long to finally finish, real life has a really bad habit of interfering with my writing "career." _

_But enough self pity...because it's finally done! Without further ado, I present to you the Epilogue of "Graduation!"_

_A grande sized thank you to DeucesWild for beta reading!_

* * *

Graduation: Epilogue

At first everything was black. Then a small sliver of light crept into Ron's consciousness, breaking through the darkness. Slowly the light became brighter and brighter until it completely permeated his senses and forced him to open his eyes.

When he did, he had no idea where he was and he was convinced that he was dead; it felt like he was floating on nothingness and he couldn't feel any part of his body. He also had trouble seeing his surroundings because of the intense blue and white light surrounding him.

But then a realization crept into his mind. If he were dead, why were his eyes starting to hurt from the intense light? He didn't claim to know much about the afterlife, but he was pretty sure that being dead meant feeling no pain. He was also fairly confident that being deceased meant not being able to smell, either; yet a scent that reminded him of a field of strawberries was currently penetrating his nostrils.

As the fog started leaving his mind, he came to the conclusion that he was lying on his side, on something soft. The strawberry smell became even stronger and he began to feel a slight twinge in his neck, but he didn't seem to mind; aside from the minor discomfort, he found his current position to be quite pleasant.

His mind, however, kept nagging at him to get up. After a brief and fruitless battle with his brain, he finally conceded and started to move his head in an effort to get the rest of his body in gear. As he did, he took in a deep breath—another sign that he was still amongst the living—and proceeded to inhale a mouthful of hair. He pulled his head back, coughing and spluttering in complete shock and came face to face with Kim.

His first reaction was to scream, but the sound wouldn't come out of his throat. Slowly it dawned on him that the wonderful softness he had felt was actually her body and the strawberry smell was from her hair, courtesy of the shampoo that she always used. Taking another deep breath—this one more satisfying without his girlfriend's locks trying to tickle his trachea—he realized her eyes were closed and the expression on her face looked almost serene, like she was sleeping, which caused a terrible thought to run through his mind. _Oh my God, Kim! Are you alright? Say something, anything! I can't lose you; you mean so much to me! _

He started to panic, but almost instantly something else pushed the terrible thought away and made him feel almost at ease, like he was absolutely certain that everything would be alright. Relaxing, he took his eyes off his girlfriend, activated his muscles—for what felt like the first time in his life—and stood up.

He looked around as awareness of his surroundings began to kick in. In front of him were the steps of Middleton City Hall; he and Kim had been lying on the pavement in front of the steps when he awoke. Looking up the side of the building he could make out the dome on top of it, despite the brilliant light that had just now started to recede. Gradually, he could make out the inky blackness of the night sky pinpointed by hundreds of stars as the light continued to fade away.

What caught his attention, however, was what seemed to be some sort of protective bubble that covered the sky overhead; it too glowed blue and appeared to be covering the entire city. He suddenly remembered the explosion of the alien ship and the subsequent shockwave caused by it. He remembered that, right before it hit, his only thought was to protect the one person he loved most in the world.

"Man," he wondered aloud, "did I do all of this?"

"Indeed you did, Stoppable-san," Sensei's voice said, startling the towheaded teen, "your monkey power is strong."

"Sensei!" Ron exclaimed as the ghostly form of the wise man appeared in front of him. All at once, all of the questions that were plaguing the young man's mind started spilling out. "What exactly did I do? What about Kim? She's not moving… Sensei, what if Kim's…?" With the horrible thoughts creeping back into his mind, he looked down at her prone form while trying hard to fight down the emotions welling up in him; he couldn't bear the thought of losing her. He looked in desperation at the projection of his sensei, his eyes pleading for guidance.

For his part, Sensei was the picture of calm. When he spoke it was with a gentle almost fatherly touch. "Fear not, my child; the one you have been matched with by destiny is not only alive, but in a safe place. Your desire to save Possible-san and Middleton from the explosion of the alien ship created this protective bubble that you see above you; it now extends to every corner of your city," he said, making no effort to disguise the pride in his voice.

"What is more, you have achieved control of your monkey powers," he continued, "you are now on a new path to enlightenment. As long as your desire is strong, you will always be able to protect Possible-san; no matter what obstacle stands in your way. It is your destiny."

"Wow!" Ron breathed as he took it all in. As he looked up, he could see the remnants of the nuclear explosion being pushed up into the sky and out into space. His memories of his battle with the aliens flooded back into his brain. He had done it; he had saved everyone in his hometown, including Kim. He was a hero!

"Booyah! I totally rock!" he bellowed, pumping his fist in celebration, momentarily forgetting his sensei was watching. "I… err... thank you Sensei; I will use this power most enlightendly," he stammered, bowing sheepishly as he regained control of himself.

He wasn't sure, but he thought that the old man was smiling at him under his beard. "Hai, Stoppable-san," he said, returning the bow, "use your power for all that is good and just. I hope you return in the near future to our school for training and to gain more understanding of this gift the ancients have bestowed on you."

"I plan on it, Sensei," Ron replied with a determination that would not have been there a couple of years ago.

"Excellent, now go to Kimberly-chan and protect her as she has protected you; until we meet again Stoppable-san, sayonara." With that, the form of Ron's sensei faded into nothingness.

Ron stood staring at the spot where his sensei had been for a brief moment but then remembered the wizened teacher's words to protect Kim. Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of his girlfriend and best friend in the whole world standing in front of him; apparently no worse for wear. For a few seconds neither of them said a word, but then a huge smile broke out on her face and she threw her arms around his shoulders and covered his mouth with hers in an all encompassing embrace.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity until they both had to come up for air; that and the familiar squeaking sound from Ron's cargo pants brought them back to the present. "Sorry Rufus, I guess we got a bit carried away there," Kim apologized to the naked mole rat, but he didn't seem to mind; rather, he was more than pleased to see his human and his human's mate happy again.

"Well, isn't _that_ a touching moment," a familiar voice sneered behind them. Kim and Ron turned around to the sight of Shego extricating herself from the windshield of the parked car she had been thrown into by Warmonga.

"Looks like you could use some help there, Shego," Kim shot back at her green-skinned rival.

"Not unless you have a brush to get all this glass out of my hair," Shego retorted with a smirk. "You know Stoppable," she continued, continuing to pick glass shards out of her hair, "you really are something. First you gain these crazy new powers, then you use them to beat the crap out of both those aliens and toss them into their ship, destroying it in the process." She paused for effect, her eyes widening as she continued. _"Then_, when you blow the damn ship up, you go and cause a nuclear explosion that could have killed all of us, but no! You go and pull _this_ out of your hat!" she finished, pointing upwards to the protective bubble that hung over them. "I wouldn't believe it in a million years that you were capable of this! Is this what happens when you hang around with Miss-I-can-do-anything your whole life?"

"No Shego," Kim looked her long-time adversary straight in the eye, "this is what happens when you're the best boyfriend ever." She put her arms around Ron kissed him again passionately before nuzzling into his chest.

"Ugh! Get a room already!" Shego groused. "You really are a piece of work Stoppable," she added with a sigh.

"Thanks Shego… I think." Ron acknowledged, somewhat puzzled.

"That was kind of a backhanded complement, honey," Kim pointed out to her boyfriend.

"Really?" he inquired. "I wouldn't know; I don't get many of the front-handed ones."

Kim and Shego both rolled their eyes at the same time. It was amazing how quickly Ron could go from Ultimate Monkey Master to typical Ron; not that either woman was overly surprised.

"Damn glass!" the villainess groused as she ran her fingers through her raven locks and looked around absentmindedly. "Where the hell is Drew?" she muttered.

"You're doing it again," Kim reminded her with a smirk.

"Doing what?" Shego asked with a questioning look. She then realized what the redhead was implying. "Knock it off already, Princess!" she growled, although there was a hint of a smile on her face when she said it.

"I don't get it," Ron whined as he tried to understand what was going on.

"Don't worry; it's a girl thing," Kim replied sweetly.

Just then the familiar whine of a hovercraft engine could be heard approaching. A few seconds later the craft came into sight, piloted by none other than Drew Lipsky. "What did I miss?" he asked as he lowered the hovercraft to the ground.

"About damn time you showed up," Shego shot back. "You mean you didn't notice the giant explosion a while ago?"

"Oh, I noticed it alright," he replied. "I was battling one of the machines when I saw the flash from the explosion and everything went white. I guess their reactor must have experienced a meltdown."

"You could say that again Doc, we were all nearly vaporized!" she exclaimed. "But then, wouldn't you know it, Sidekick here stepped up and saved the day; monkey style," she added, motioning to the blonde haired boy in front of her.

"Huh? Monkey Style? I don't get it." Drakken was perplexed by his assistant's statement.

"You had to have been here," the former mercenary replied. "Anyway, let's get out of here; I'm sure the super couple need some alone time... that is, if they aren't planning on stopping us for some stupid reason. I don't recall breaking any laws; if anything, I think we actually _helped_ here."

"I think we're good here Shego," Kim responded cheerfully. "I'll put in a good word with you two with the authorities."

"OK, but not too much; I don't want to wreck my reputation," Shego shot back sarcastically. She then started giggling as she hopped aboard the hovercraft at the thought of being a good guy for once.

"Where will you guys go?" Kim asked as the craft lifted off the ground.

"I heard Costa Rica is nice this time of year," her former rival replied. "That's assuming Drakken here paid all the property taxes and the government didn't seize our lair there."

"That was a one time error!" Drakken protested. "Besides, it was in Croatia where they did that."

"Whatever," Shego rolled her eyes and turned to Ron. "So, I was wondering sidekick; any chance that you could take down this bubble? I mean you put it up, so can't you just close your eyes and make it go away?"

"I'll give it a try," Ron replied. Focusing his power, he closed his eyes and imagined the protective bubble disappearing into nothingness. When he opened his eyes, the blue glow that hovered above them had indeed disappeared; leaving nothing but the night sky in its place.

"Not bad," the raven-haired vixen remarked. Firing up the engines, she lifted the hovercraft off the ground and prepared to engage the throttle. "Take care you two!" she announced cheerfully as she pushed forward on the throttle and the craft sped away from the teen heroes. Gaining speed, they soon passed the city limits of Middleton heading in a southeasterly direction. She put the craft on autopilot and joined Drakken on the bench seat at the back of the craft.

For a while both career criminals sat in silence, Shego using the time to sort out all the thoughts running through her head. She wouldn't have dared admit to Kim at the time, but the teenage heroine may have hit on a sensitive spot when it came to her and her employer. It wasn't an accident that she had been noticing the same feelings that she felt towards him while under the influence of the Moodulator, but this time the feelings felt genuine.

Absentmindedly, Shego put her hand on Drakken's back and began moving her fingers up until she touched his hair. As she ran her fingers through his hair, a random thought came to her. _For and old guy he's not that bad looking._ She giggled a little bit at thinking of her boss in those terms, but as much as she tried, she couldn't help feeling a very strong attraction to him at that moment. She wondered to herself if that was the reason that she kept working with him all those years; even though his plans were always getting foiled by Team Possible.

"Not that I'm complaining Shego, but would you mind telling me why you've got your hand where it is right now?" Drakken asked, breaking her thought process while looking down at her.

Shego just looked right back at him; her deep green eyes sparkled in the night. "Shh, don't say anything right now, Drew," she whispered, silencing him with a finger to his lips and resting her head on his shoulder, "I'll explain when we get to Costa Rica."

Drakken for his part, sat stunned by his partner's actions. Unsure of what to do, yet finding the current situation pleasant, he decided to simply nod and enjoy the moment.

Shego smiled to herself. _Maybe Kimmie's right_, she thought, _maybe I do care for him "that way." We're both rational adults capable of making our own decisions. Maybe we should finally stop denying it to ourselves and each other… _

* * *

The silence of the forest at night was shattered by the sound of a rocket engine. Almost out of nowhere, what first looked like a spacecraft came to a gentle landing in the centre of a clearing. Upon further inspection, however, the craft looked just like an ordinary Earth automobile.

But this was not an ordinary car: it was a heavily modified Roth SL Coupe, painted an odd, bubblegum-pink color. Nicknamed the _Sloth_—although it was anything but—the vehicle belonged to world-renowned crime fighter and teenage heroine, Kim Possible.

Indeed, the two individuals who exited the vehicle upon its landing were Kim and her best friend and boyfriend, Ron Stoppable. They had just come from the Lake Middleton Recreation Area where the Middleton High graduating class had just wrapped up their graduation beach party.

It had been a long couple of days for Kim and Ron; starting with their graduation from high school, which had been interrupted by the Lowardian invasion. The subsequent life or death battle had seen the two teens victorious, but almost at a terrible cost as the destruction of the alien's ship had nearly leveled their hometown. Then there was the matter of Ron discovering his "new" powers.

He'd had them since the incident with monkey idols three years previous—which had initially given him this strange gift—but with the love of his life in mortal danger, they had finally manifested themselves fully. With the power of Tai Xing Pe'Kwar finally under his full control, Ron had managed to both protect Kim and his city from destruction in an awesome display of power. For a young man that had a reputation for being a slacker and not living up to his potential, it was an incredible example of him stepping up in the clutch.

Of course, even with victory in hand there was still the aftermath of the invasion to deal with. After seeing Drakken and Shego off, Kim and Ron made their way back to the school to see if any of the graduation attendees were in need of assistance. Along the way, both of them cringed at the destruction wrought by the Lowardian walkers.

When they reached their school, they ran into the stadium where the ceremony had been held; only to be greeted with the sight of both their mothers organizing a relief effort. Anne Possible, calling on her considerable experience as a trauma surgeon, was checking on various people's injuries. Ron's mother Barbara, meanwhile, had organized—along with the school lunch lady—snacks and beverages for all the graduates and their families who decided to stay in the relative safety of the stadium during the invasion. It didn't appear that, despite the scale of the invasion, that anyone at the ceremony was seriously hurt; however people were still in shock from the explosion of the alien ship and the subsequent energy burst from Ron. No one knew how close they had come to being annihilated, if not for the blonde haired boy.

Dean Stoppable and James Possible had gone outside into the parking lot when they thought it safe to do so and surveyed the damage caused by the walkers. They then relayed this information to Mr. Barkin who—once he calmed down—passed this information along to the proper authorities. Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do as the downtown was being protected by the alien machines during the climactic battle. Even Jim and Tim helped out by doing a headcount for their mother to make sure everyone at the graduation was accounted for; everyone, of course, except her famous daughter and the man she hoped would be her son in-law one day.

When Kim, Ron, and Rufus entered the stadium, they went unnoticed until Kim's friend Monique spotted them and, along with Felix, came running over to them. Soon they were surrounded by almost all the people at the graduation; Josh, Tara, Wade, the other cheerleaders—including Bonnie—and numerous members of the football team ran up to both of them, giving them hugs and high fives of congratulations. Even though they hadn't been at the battle, their friends seemed to realize the fact they were all alive and relatively unhurt was from the direct efforts of the two teenagers.

While Kim wanted to revel in their triumph with her closest friends, there was one group of people she really wanted to see right at that time, that being her parents and her brothers. Spotting both sets of parents standing over by the bleachers, Kim and Ron broke away from their friends and ran to greet them. Hugs and tears were exchanged all around as the magnitude of what had just happened began to sink in.

As EMT's and police finally filed into the stadium to help with relief efforts, both the Possibles and the Stoppables decided to leave and return to their respective homes. Kim really wanted a hot shower and to get out of her good clothes that she had still manage to do battle in. Traditionally there was the after party at Lake Middleton for the graduating class, but obviously this was put on hold because of the invasion. Kim would later learn that the school was thinking of canceling the event entirely for that year, and it was only rescheduled for the next night because of protests by students and their parents.

She also secretly hoped that Ron would spend the night with her at her house. She really wanted a continuation of what they had attempted right after the ceremony had ended and just before they had fought the invaders. She figured that her mother would be alright with the arrangement and if her mother was on board with it, then her father really would have no choice but to go along as well; that is, if he knew what was good for him.

Kim also really wanted to test just how far she and Ron were willing to take their relationship, especially now after the battle they had just fought together. She very much wanted to share her bed with her boyfriend, to feel his body next to her; perhaps they would finally take their relationship to the next level and make love for the first time that evening… little did she know that she wouldn't have a bed or even a house for them to come home to.

* * *

_Earlier that evening:_

"It can't be… it's… _gone…"_

Kim stood stunned in front of the ruins of her house. She, Ron and their respective families had returned to her house after leaving the ceremony, and were greeted with a giant hole where her house used to stand. Further down the block, the wreckage of a Lowardian walker could be seen lying in the middle of the street; it was no secret what had done the damage. It looked like the house had exploded from the walker's impact and whatever was left had burned until there was nothing more than a charred mess.

Both families stood in front of the house in shock while James was off to the side talking with one of the local firefighters who had arrived on the scene. It was a grim expression on the rocket scientist's face as the firefighter explained to him that once his team arrived on-scene, there was little more they could do than prevent the blaze from spreading and let it burn itself out.

Kim surveyed the damage and as the initial shock wore off, slowly she began to break. It was too much; her graduation interrupted, the invasion, the battle, the explosion and nearly losing everything and everyone near and dear to her. Kim may have been a girl who could do anything, but now that her house—with all her childhood memories—stood destroyed in front of her she couldn't take it anymore. All the terrible things the villains of the world had done to her, Ron, or even her friends and family paled in comparison to this utter violation.

This wasn't just a structure made of wood and concrete, it was her home. The place where she laid in her warm bed while a snowstorm raged outside, where she teased her brothers, had long talks with her mother, and spent so many countless happy memories with her friends and family, especially her blonde haired best friend/boyfriend. Now it was gone.

With a wail of despair, Kim dropped to her knees and let it all come out of her. She began pounding her fists on the grass and screaming hysterically so that the whole world could hear her. Some of the words out of her mouth were words that she wouldn't use on even the worst of her enemies. Kim didn't care that she was in public and that she was losing it in front of the fire department, her neighbors and Ron's family. All she cared about right now was her rage.

She put all the pain and emotion she had felt the entire evening into her fury. Her childhood home had been callously destroyed, along with everything in it. True there were things in her house that could be replaced like furniture or fixtures, but it wasn't the loss of those items that fueled her rage; it was the loss of the special items that she had accumulated over her almost two decades of living there.

Things like her picture of her and Ron at the Junior Prom. Or the gifts he bought her on special occasions; for instance, the silver locket that held a copy of said picture. Ron had given it to her for their Senior Prom in recognition of them getting together a year earlier. She had decided not to wear it to the graduation ceremony for fear of it getting lost at the planned after party, a mistake that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Even her beloved and rare Pandaroo—which she refused to grow out of—appeared to have been destroyed in the fire

Kim was in such a rage that she wanted to strike out and anything and anyone. Ron recognized this right away and stayed his ground next to his equally shocked parents. For their part, Kim's brothers knew that saying one word to their sister right now would be the first and last mistake they would ever make, so they wisely kept silent.

Kim's mother, however, knew her only daughter well enough to know when to intervene. When the screaming and pounding of fists into the grass had subsided just enough, Anne strode up to her distraught offspring and whirled her around to face her. Kim initially wanted to hit whoever had interrupted her rage, but when she realized it was her mother her anger abruptly came to an end for the briefest moment. For her part, Anne felt like slapping her daughter across the face to break Kim out of her hysteria.

Staring at her with an intensity that bore right through to her daughter's soul, Anne suddenly enveloped Kim in an embrace and stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Kim's anger, meanwhile, had begun to subside and she sobbed uncontrollably into her mother's chest, feeling both helpless and scared at the same time.

Satisfied his girlfriend was calming down, Ron took a look over to where Kim's father was standing. He couldn't quite make out what was going on with Mr. Dr. P; his expression was a mixture of stern determination and of a man who was thinking furiously. After a few moments, he reached down, slowly and deliberately, for the cell phone he carried on him at all times. Curiously he looked on as the man who had raised the most important person in his life slowly dialed a number.

* * *

Dr. James Timothy Possible led the two families through the bowels of the Middleton Space Center. When they reached a large set of doors, he motioned for them to stop and pulled out his swipe card. He ran it through the security reader on the wall; with a beep, the reader accepted the identification and the double doors creaked open. He motioned for his group to follow him inside the massive room that appeared in front of them. It was lined on either side with what looked like drawers; almost like the safety deposit boxes one would find in a bank vault.

"Dad…?" Jim asked innocently.

"Why are we here?" Tim finished his brother's sentence.

James Possible shot them both a glare that said there was to be no questions asked. Approaching one of the drawers, he punched in a code on the keypad on the front. The drawer clicked open and he inspected the contents inside. For the first time since they arrived to see their house destroyed, a small smile cracked his face. Turning around, the scientist looked over to where his wife, daughter and—according to his wife—future son-in-law stood. Locking eyes with his wife, he nodded quickly; Anne responded with a nod of her own.

Kim was busy staring at the floor; she hadn't said a word since her earlier outburst at the ruins of her home. On the ride over in the family van, she had sat silently in the back with Ron; her head buried in his chest, although her tears were all used up.

Ron, meanwhile, had no idea why his girlfriend's father had brought them all to the space center. He didn't think it was to make good on his usual threat of sending him to the nearest black hole.

Ron wasn't as dumb as people made him out to be, though. When Kim's father told him and the others assembled that they were going to his place of employment, he didn't hesitate to gently lead Kim to her parent's van and sit quietly with her in the back seat, comforting her as best he could.

Now that they were all down in the basement of the center, in what appeared to be a vault of some sort, he was surprised to see James pull something out of the drawer that looked vaguely familiar to him. It was something that he had seen many times before, sitting on Kim's bed in her room; something that he was sure was lost forever.

Walking over to his still disconsolate daughter, James held out the object in front of her. For a long moment there was no reaction from the young redhead, but then…

"Pandaroo…?" Kim breathed, almost inaudibly.

"It's not much, Kimmie-cub; but I think it's a start," the Possible patriarch addressed his eldest daughter softly.

Kim looked at her father, then her mother who smiled at her through the tears streaming down her face. "Daddy…?" she stammered, unsure of what to say. "I don't… I don't understand…" She looked at the plush toy in her hands. It appeared to be an exact replica of her favorite toy that she thought was destroyed earlier that evening.

James smiled at her. "Kimmie-cub," he began, "I know you don't think that I'm the coolest of fathers; I know that I can be a bit stuffy and old fashioned sometimes…"

Kim wanted to say something along the lines of _that's the understatement of the century,_ but instead was still too confused to say anything, so she let her father continue.

"One thing I like to think I'm good at, though, is my observational ability," he said, turning to his wife, who nodded her head in approval as he continued. "The fact is, disaster can strike any family at any time; be it natural, man-made, or in our case, from another world. Although we pay insurance to cover for when such disasters strike, I'm afraid all the money in the world can't replace special memories and objects near and dear to us."

Kim looked down at the Pandaroo in her hands and back to her father. Tears began forming in her eyes again as she realized the magnitude of his words. She felt a comforting hand on her back; Ron had slid over to her side once again.

"For the past number of years, your mother and I have been collecting certain things from all of us in our family," James stated while looking at the Pandaroo in Kim's arms, "these items can't be easily replaced by an insurance claim." Reaching back into the drawer, he pulled out several USB flash drives as he continued. "Items such as baby pictures, family photos and other important pictures are all digitally stored on these drives for just such an occasion."

"So all the pictures of me and Ron when we were kids, our prom pictures, the ones from Christmas…?" Kim asked hopefully

"All here Kimmie-cub," James reassured her, his smile broadening. "I also, in conjunction with your friend Wade, backed up every computer hard drive in the house to our supercomputer here at the center. As you all know I do sometimes take my work home with me, so it seemed natural to back up all the files in the house, not just the ones important to me only."

"Does that mean…?" Jim began

"You've got all our experiments on file here?" Tim finished excitedly.

"Cool!" they both exclaimed.

"Now we won't have to start from scratch!" Jim declared.

"Wait," Kim interrupted, "does that mean you have the files from my online diary here?" She proceeded to give a hard stare at her father. She didn't like the fact that her brothers and Wade were always trying to hack into her computer, but if everyone at the space centre could see what was on her hard drive she would be severely cranked.

"Don't worry dear," her mother interrupted. "I'm not much of a computer person, but I know that your father had the good sense to password protect everything he backed up; _including_ the personal stuff."

Still clutching her precious Pandaroo, Kim embraced both her father and her mother. "You two are the greatest parents ever! I don't even want to know how much it cost to find a replacement Pandaroo; I'm just glad that not everything I owned and loved in that house was destroyed." Her expression fell as another thought crossed her mind. "I don't know about the stuff behind my closet though."

The secret room behind her closet was where Kim kept her most precious belongings like her actual diary that she didn't want anyone to see. Also stowed in the biometrically-secured room was her battle suit; the same one she wore for the first time the night she and Ron defeated Drakken's Diablo scheme once and for all (not to mention the night the lifelong best friends admitted their true feelings toward each other). There were so many memories in that one small cubbyhole...

"Actually KP," Ron interjected, interrupting his girlfriend's brooding. "If you're talking about your secret closet—which I know about since I 'borrowed' your battle suit that one time…" He trailed off as the glare he received from her could've frozen the nucleus of the sun; even though she'd forgiven him for the incident, she still found herself slightly tweaked that he would even think of such a thing.

Pulling nervously at the collar of his sweater, Ron swallowed loudly, but soldiered on. "Anyway, Wade told me that the closet is made of reinforced titanium that can apparently survive a nuclear explosion so, in theory, it should still be intact."

"Even though it's under a pile of rubble…" Kim thought out loud. "Ron, you're right!"

"Well, the Ron-man has been known to come up with the right answer on occasion!" he beamed.

Kim giggled and kissed him on the cheek. "You've always been better than people give you credit for, honey."

"Thanks KP," he replied with a grin. Turning to her father, he spoke again. "Mr. Dr. P? While we're here, do you have…?"

"One step ahead of you, Ronald," he said as he motioned the young man forward.

Ron looked in the drawer at an item that he was incredibly happy to see right at that point. He withdrew it and showed it to his girlfriend. Kim took one look at the item and tears immediately started running down her cheeks again, but these ones were tears of joy.

In his hand, Ron held an exact copy of the silver locket given to her to commemorate them becoming a couple at the Junior Prom. Inside was the first picture of them as a couple taken at the prom and given to her as a Senior Prom gift.

"I got another one made on the advice of your dad," he explained. "It wasn't too much more since they just copied the original design, although it's as authentic as the original. Those Naco royalties came in real handy in this case." Ron looked over at his father, the person who currently was the trustee of his Naco royalty fund and the person that allowed him to take some money from the account to pay for both lockets. Ron's father just beamed at his son and—he hoped—his future daughter-in-law.

No sooner had Ron placed the chain around Kim's neck did she pull him close and kiss him hard on the lips in front of both their respective families. "You are the most wonderful person in the world right now," she whispered breathlessly to her significant other as they parted. Ron just grinned and held her close to him.

"This has been a terrible tragedy," Anne proclaimed, "but I think we can make the best of it if we stay positive. For instance, I've wanted to remodel the kitchen for a while now, so this is as good a place as any to start."

"When the contractor comes by tomorrow to start rebuilding the house I'll make sure we're there to dig what we can out of the rubble, Kimmie-cub," James offered. "We may be able to salvage some things like your closet; not to mention some of our own things that might have survived. But for now it's been a very long day and we need to find a place to stay for the evening."

"I think it's time that we helped out in that department," Dean Stoppable interrupted him. "James, you and Anne have been wonderful to our Ronald and our family; now it's time we repaid the favor. You're more than welcome to stay at our house tonight and for the next few days until your housing situation improves."

"That's wonderful of you to offer, Dean," the rocket scientist said, "but I would hate to impose on you."

"Not at all," Ron's mother dismissed his concerns. "You two can sleep in our guest room, Jim and Tim can sleep in Ron's room."

"So where are Kim and Ron going to sleep?" Jim asked.

"Are they going to have to sleep together?" Tim asked suggestively. Both boys began to make kissing noises.

"Boys!" Kim's father chided them.

"It's OK Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable, Ron and I can sleep out in the yard in that tent you have." Kim suggested.

"Do I get any say in this matter?" Ron asked, somewhat indignantly.

"Hrnk! Yeah!" Rufus squeaked from Ron's pocket.

"Don't worry Rufus, you can stay with the Tweebs," Kim spoke to the mole rat. "As for you, mister," she addressed Ron in a most sultry tone of voice, "you're being offered the chance at quality time with your girlfriend; I suggest you take advantage of it."

Ron realized that this indeed could be a very good thing. James was about to say something about his daughter and Ron's sleeping arrangements but a well placed elbow to the ribs by his wife silenced him.

"Alright then," Dean Stoppable chuckled. "Let's get out of here and back to our place, I think we could all use some sleep."

No one argued that point as James closed the drawer and led the way out of the vault.

* * *

"KP?"

Ron spoke to Kim, breaking her out of her reverie. She had been thinking of earlier in the day at the remains of her house and the efforts to recover other items from the rubble. They had managed to recover her secret closet still intact. Inside, the valuables that she had kept there for safekeeping had held up as she had hoped they would. Items such as her diary, her old cheerleading uniforms, both prom dresses and an assortment of old clothes that still meant something to her, along with other special items that she was very glad to have had the foresight to store in there.

As she had suspected, there wasn't much else left of the contents of her room. Her parents had managed to salvage what they could of their own belongings, but overall the damage to the house and its contents was complete. This made her incredibly sad. Even though her childhood home would be rebuilt—possibly better than before—it wouldn't be the same for her ever again. No new structure could replace the place that contained so many happy memories for her.

"Uh, KP, a little help here?"

Once again, Ron broke her away from her thoughts and brought her to the present; a campsite in the middle of Mt. Middleton State Park where her best friend and boyfriend was attempting to inflate an air mattress in the dark. Kim watched Ron struggle for a moment then giggled and dug a flashlight out of her car's trunk to help him see in the dark.

It had a desired effect as he was able to inflate the mattress in no time at all with the portable compressor they had brought once she shone the light to where he was. Once their bed had been properly inflated Kim set to making it comfortable for both of them by setting up a pair of sleeping bags and pillows on top of the mattress.

It was just the two of them at this secluded campsite near the side of a hill in the shadow of Mt. Middleton. The rest of their classmates had mostly stayed behind at the lake to party late into the night. Rufus was still staying with Kim's brothers, no doubt being the "guinea pig" in their experiments. Both sets of parents had given their blessing to the two teens spending a night together in the woods, although in reality Kim could have just gone anyway since she was technically an adult as of a couple of weeks before her graduation. Ron still had to wait two more months before he reached this important date.

With their bed prepared for the evening, Kim and Ron both crawled under the sleeping bags and almost instantly into each others arms. They were alone with no one around for a number of miles, not that Kim was particularly worried; the Sloth was equipped with the latest GPS and communication equipment in case of emergency, so they could be secluded and still stay in contact with the outside world if needed.

It was quite warm for an early June night, which led to Kim and Ron not wearing very much to bed. Ron still had his board shorts on from the party but was shirtless, while Kim was wearing the same halter top; however she changed into a pair of shorts (that her father would most definitely not approve of had he seen them) before joining Ron in bed.

As expected with them being so alone, their initial kissing and caressing turned into a full blown make-out session. Kim was determined to use the situation to push the boundaries of their relationship once and for all and, if successful, reach a new level with her man. She was fully aware of what she was doing when she rolled over so she was on top of Ron, all while continuing to kiss him passionately. Meanwhile, Ron had one of his hands under her halter top and was caressing her back, reveling in the feel of her smooth skin and what she was doing to him physically.

Kim realized that she wanted him then more than any other time in her life and signaled this by grinding up against him. Ron didn't argue this and attempted to lift off her top, although he only managed to get it so her chest was exposed. The feeling of her bare chest against his own was the most intense feeling he had ever experienced in his young life.

Slowly they both pushed themselves and each other to the point of no return. Kim was ecstatic, this is what she had wanted and craved for so long and now it was about to happen. She was about to lean back to pull off her top along with her shorts and then pull off Ron's shorts as well, when suddenly without warning Ron broke their kiss. She looked down in shock as her boyfriend had this weird look on his face. It looked like a combination of fear and apprehension.

"Baby, what's wrong?" she asked anxiously.

Ron sat there for a few moments, almost like he was deciding on what to say. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he began to speak. "Kim," he said slowly, "I love you more than anyone else on this planet and I know that you feel the same way about me."

Kim nodded her head in agreement as he continued. "I also realize that the past few days have been really hard on the both of us and our families," he said. Again she nodded, although she was wondering where he was going with this. Ron sensed this and got right to the point. "The point I'm trying to make is that I'm not totally dumb even though sometimes I come across that way."

"Ron!" Kim was about to scold him for once again seeing himself that way, but he cut her off.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm completely aware of what's going on here."

Now Kim was confused. "You are?" she asked with questioning eyes.

"Yes," he replied. "I know that you're in need of a physical release because of what's happened the past couple of days and, for my part, I sort of feel the same way."

He paused for a second to collect his thoughts. "I mean, let's face it; you're one of the most beautiful women I know and I lost count of all the times I woke up this past year thanking God for putting us together, first as friends and now as a couple. To say that I don't want you physically or that I haven't though about you in that way over the last year—and even before that—would be lying."

Kim felt her heart swell at this pronouncement. "So, if you feel this strongly about me, then what's the sitch?" she asked coyly.

Ron sighed. "I just can't do it right now."

Kim looked at him dumbfounded. "I don't get it."

Ron sighed in exasperation as he answered. "Even though every fiber in my body is screaming to just let go and let you take me right here and now, I can't do it. I can't give you what you're craving."

Kim couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Ron… I don't understand…" she began.

"We talked about this, don't you remember?" he retorted. "It was six months ago if I'm not mistaken; we talked about only taking the next step in our relationship if we were both completely comfortable with it. Even though it's really hard for me to say it… right now I'm not totally comfortable."

Kim didn't really know how to proceed. "Does this have anything to do with the fact that you're still a minor for the next couple of months?" she inquired pointedly.

"A little bit," he replied. "But that's not the whole story."

"Are you worried that I might get pregnant?" Kim asked. "I've been on the pill since I was fifteen and it's seriously like clockwork. The chances of anything happening are pretty low."

Ron shook his head. "No, that's not it either."

"Did my father get to you?" Kim rolled her eyes about her father and his old-fashioned way. She could just picture her father giving him a stern lecture about what he could and couldn't do with his _precious_ Kimmie-cub. Her father was a wonderful person but he really needed to let go sometimes… _especially_ with the black hole probe threats.

"Actually, your father didn't threaten to send me to the nearest black hole if we slept together," he countered, "it has more to do with your mom."

"My mother?" Kim asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ron sighed again. "I had a conversation with your Mom earlier today; when she found out we were planning on coming up here. You were out shopping for clothes with Monique and the other girls when we had it. Basically she told me that there was a good chance that you'd want to get intimate with me if we were alone like this."

Kim was flabbergasted. "My own mother—who was one of the biggest cheerleaders for us to get together—told you to reject me if I wanted to get intimate?" she said incredulously, her voice rising in anger.

"Well… no," he replied, "it was more like if it ever came to this to use my judgment on how to proceed." He paused again. "Kim… your mother thinks that, given the mental state you're still in right now—especially with the way you acted when we got to your house the night of our graduation—it might not be a good idea for you to be opening yourself up physically and emotionally like this."

"Not a good idea?" she echoed angrily. What the hell was her mother going on about? Realizing who she was with, however, she quickly tried to calm herself. _Don't shoot the messenger, Kim,_ she told herself, breathing deeply to bring herself down.

"How do _you_ feel Ron?" she questioned him once she'd regained control. "After all, my mother isn't here right now, but you are."

She was sure that he felt differently from her mother. After all, she knew the effect she had on him and how a certain word or the way she walked could turn him into putty. In fact, it turned her on knowing how she turned him on.

Ron stared right into the emerald green eyes of his girlfriend. He didn't want to say it but knew deep down inside that he had to. "I think I'm inclined to agree with her," he replied softly

"_What?"_ Kim screamed.

Ron withstood the fury of his girlfriend that he knew would come, but continued on in the face of it. "I really think it would be best if we don't go down that road just yet."

Kim went from anger to shock from hearing this out of Ron's mouth. She just sat there on top of him not knowing what to say. "You can't be serious… I can't believe you're saying these things to me…" Kim could barely get the words out of her mouth.

Ron looked up at her with intense sadness in his eyes. "I'm serious Kim; more serious than I've ever been in my life."

He wanted to add something else but Kim cut him off. "Don't do this to me…" she pleaded. She was shocked and angry but now her anger was giving way to tears. "Please, Ron; _don't_ do this to me…" Tears began to roll down her face at the thought of him rejecting her.

"I'm sorry KP," was all he could say to her.

Kim tried to calm herself again and talk rationally. "All I've been able to think about is what our first time would be like; I planned it out perfectly and even with those aliens invading us, I _still_ was able to plan it so we'd be alone like this! For God's sake, don't do this to me!"

Her voice was turning frantic. "You have no idea… how much I love you! How much I dream about you… I've dreamed about you almost every night for the past year!" She sounded like a frightened little girl; lost and unsure of what to do. It was a far cry from the confident young woman that she had become over the past few years.

"I can't live without you Ron!" she sobbed as she started to lose control. "If you'd died fighting those aliens, I _know _I wouldn't be able to keep on living without you by my side! You're _everything_ to me!"

Through the tears Kim pleaded with him with all her heart. "After everything that's happened in the past few days I _need_ you… I _want _you! Please… don't do this to me…"

Ron felt his heart breaking but he kept his silence.

"When I was knocked out by those aliens the last thing I thought of was that I'd never see you again…" Kim's voice was almost a whisper. Meanwhile tears were still streaming down her face. Looking up, she glared daggers at him. "Damn it Ron, _why are you doing this to me?"_ she exploded. "Why, Goddamn it?" She'd pretty much lost it at this point and was beginning to pound her fists hysterically into Ron's chest, screaming between sobs. _"Why?"_

At this point, Ron knew that she was completely irrational. Nothing he could say would make her act or think straight. There was really only one thing he could do and that was to leave for a while until she calmed down. At this stage it didn't look like it would be any time soon, plus there was the issue of her arms and fists slamming down on his chest that he had to take care of.

Calmly, he grabbed her arms and, in one motion, flipped her off of him onto her back. Even though she was in a hysterical rage, he found that he didn't have to expend much effort to do so. Casually, he got off the mattress and began looking for his shirt and shoes.

"Until you calm down KP, I'm going to have to leave for a while," he announced as he re-dressed in preparation of leaving the campsite.

This shocked her back to reality a little bit. "Ron… no… please _don't_ leave me!" Kim sobbed from the mattress.

"I'm sorry Kim," he whispered as he turned to face her, his face a mask of sadness, "just remember that I love you." With that, he left the campsite. Kim could hear his footsteps through the underbrush slowly getting quieter until she couldn't hear them any more. Burying her face in the pillow, she sobbed uncontrollably.

* * *

Kim didn't know how long she'd laid there crying and shaking with rage and sadness. She figured that it had maybe been around half an hour, but she really didn't know at this point. What she did know was Ron wasn't there with her and she had pushed him away with her selfishness. True, she could be forgiven if she had reached her breaking point with what had happened to them over the past couple of days, but she knew that it was still ferociously wrong what she had done.

Getting up, she put on a pair of her jeans and her shoes. She had to go find him, even if it was the middle of the night and she wasn't entirely sure what direction he had taken. Regardless, she had to find him and apologize to him for what she had done.

Once she had calmed down, she though about the whole sitch between them. As difficult as it was for her to admit it, she knew that she had pushed him to do something he wasn't comfortable with, at least not yet. She knew Ron reacting the way he did meant he was still very apprehensive and insecure about certain things. Obviously the issue of them becoming intimate with each other must have been one of those things.

Strangely enough, Ron was afraid of a lot of things but did them anyway—even if it caused him great terror—because of his love and devotion to Kim. That being said, it wasn't like them making love for the first time was in the same category as jumping out of an airplane or fighting some villain's henchmen… or was it? She sighed at her best friend/boyfriend's quirky habits that secretly made her love him even more.

Once she was dressed, she looked around for any clue which direction he had gone in. Finding no such clues, an inspiration hit her. Climbing into the front seat of her car, the redheaded teen retrieved her wrist Kimmunicator. Scrolling through a few menus, she eventually found what she was looking for. Smiling to herself she punched the activation button and, after a few moments, headed out into the woods in a certain direction.

* * *

After about ten minutes of walking, she finally found him sitting on a boulder overlooking a slope that opened into a wide valley. The view was actually quite breathtaking; the valley stretched for miles, framed by the majestic peaks of the Rockies and lit up with a full moon. Halfway down the valley Kim could see the shoreline of Lake Middleton and she swore she could still hear the music from her graduation party that was obviously still going strong despite the late hour.

Further away, she could just make out the lights on the outskirts of Upperton. She knew that just beyond that lay her and Ron's hometown. She was almost certain that Ron's dumb luck had led him to this place which, under normal circumstances, would be probably one of the most romantic spots ever.

Kim stood back and watched him for a few seconds, unsure how to proceed. He must have been really upset with her to leave her like he did. Exhaling deeply, she began to walk over to him quietly, so as not to scare him.

As she got closer she could have sworn that Ron was crying. Softly she addressed him. "Ron?" When there was no reply from him, she tried a little louder.

"Ron!" When there was still no reply, she started to worry that he wouldn't acknowledge her presence. Again fighting to hold back tears, she tried again. "R-Ronnie…? It's me, Kim…"

Finally that got his attention. When he turned to face her, her earlier suspicions of him crying were confirmed; in the moonlight she could see tears running down his face. She felt terrible, sure that she was the reason he was this upset.

"Ron, I'm _so_ sorry for how I treated you back there," she said. "It was ferociously bad of me to act like that. I wish I could take back everything I said back at the campsite…"

Kim wanted to slide over next to him on the boulder and take him by his hand, but before she could do so Ron surprised her with what came out of his mouth. "They're… dead…" he sobbed.

"Come again?" Kim looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I killed them… they're dead…" Ron put his head in his hands and sobbed some more.

Kim slid up beside him and put her arm around his shoulder. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her concern for the man she loved overriding her own guilt and shame for what happened between them earlier.

"The aliens… I killed them when I threw them into their ship…" Ron was genuinely distraught by his actions on that fateful night.

Kim was fairly shocked that was what was making him so upset. Before she spoke again she chose her words carefully, fully aware of what had happened earlier.

"You do realize that if you hadn't done that, they probably would have killed both of us," Kim pointed out. "Taking any life needlessly is wrong, but I don't think Warhok and Warmonga were particularly good beings; regardless of what planet they were from." Ron continued to sob but nodded to acknowledge what she had said.

Kim kept comforting Ron as best she could, but absurdity of the situation made her want to giggle. She tried stifling them as best she could but finally couldn't hold her giggle fit back any longer.

"Exactly what's so funny?" he asked pointedly, momentarily forgetting his woes.

"This whole sitch," she replied between giggles. "We just had a massive fight and you're concerned about the aliens that tried to take over the world?" Resting her head on his shoulder, she quit trying to hold it back and squealed in laughter. "God… this is why I love you _so_ much…" She tried her best to compose herself, without much success.

When Ron saw his girlfriend and best friend of fourteen years laughing next to him, his sadness—along with his anger towards her—dissipated. "You know KP; before you got here I was going over the events of the past few days in my head and, to be fair, I shed a few tears for you."

Kim raised her head up to look directly at him but Ron had his turned so he was staring down at the valley below as he continued. "I can kinda understand why you felt the way you did back at the campsite; I mean, if my house had been destroyed, I'd probably be in need of some physical comfort too." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry I denied you like I did back there; honestly, if it was a few months down the road—after I turned eighteen—I wouldn't have said no. It's just… I really am worried about where your head's at right now."

"Uh, uh… no way Ron," she cut him off, "do _not _apologize. I acted terribly this evening; I was totally selfish and I wrecked what should have been a special evening for the both of us.

"As much as I hate to admit it sometimes," she continued, "my mother's right. I can get really emotional about things and it can most definitely cloud my judgment. Eventually we'll have our special moment together and I promise you it will be wonderful for the both of us… can you forgive me for being tweaked at you?" she asked hopefully, looking at him with all the love she could muster.

"Already have, KP," he replied as he gave her a huge hug and stroked her hair gently.

Kim sighed contentedly and nestled against Ron's shoulder while he put his arm around her and pulled her tighter to him. They stayed like that for a long time before he broke the silence again. "Hey, KP; can I ask you something?"

"Anything, Ronnie," she replied sweetly.

"How did you find me?"

"I used the Kimmunicator," she giggled as held it up to show him. "You're chipped, don't you remember?"

"I'd rather forget," he groused. The blonde haired young man made a mental note to talk to Wade about the whole being chipped without his consent sitch.

Both teens continued to sit in silence, enjoying each other's company until Kim spoke up. "I have a question for you now," Kim asked Ron.

"Sure," he replied.

"Just how did you manage to find such a romantic place? I mean, look at the view; it's spectacular!" she said as she motioned to the wide valley below them.

"Well…" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I just sort of started walking and after a while, I tripped over this place. It seemed like a good place to sit and think for a while… I guess it's yet another case of the _Ron Factor _at work."

Kim cuddled up against him and smiled at his penchant for doing awesome things by accident.

Ron sat in silence for a few more moments. "Actually, now that you mention it; it is a pretty good place to hang out with a special someone," he mused. A few more minutes of silence lapsed before he spoke up again. "Can I ask you another question?"

"Go," Kim replied.

"I was thinking about our graduation and the speech you gave; which was totally badical by the way." Kim smiled warmly at his words, but said nothing and let him continue. "Did you really mean everything you said in that speech? I mean, when you looked right at me at one point it was like you were talking directly to me."

Kim pulled back and looked directly into his chocolate brown orbs. "Every… single… word," she breathed. "I meant every single thing I said in that speech."

"Wow," he breathed.

Another thing that he'd wanted to ask her—but had been dreading the response—crept into his brain. "What about the college sitch? You have the opportunity to go to any school anywhere in the world; on the other hand, I don't even know of any place that wants me." His head drooped in despair and self-pity, but Kim placed her hand under his chin and lifted his head up so he could look at her.

"I so don't care," she replied. "I don't care if you go to a school around the corner or around the world. I know that you'll get accepted somewhere and I _know_ that when you do, I will do whatever it takes to be as near as possible to you. Even if we're not going to the same place; even if it involves distance between us, I'll find a way to be with you, I promise."

"You mean that, KP?" Ron's heart was filled with hope. He wasn't holding her back! Instead she was willing to give up a chance at attending a prestigious university to be with him! His head was spinning at the thought of being able to attend the same school as her, or at the very least be close enough to her to continue their relationship.

Kim nodded at him. She then turned her head and looked down the valley for a while before she spoke again. "Do you honestly know how much I love you, Ron?"

He looked at her and shook his head no, but otherwise said nothing. Kim paused to consider what she was going to say before continuing on. "Have you ever heard someone say they'd die for someone they love?"

Ron pondered what she had said for a long moment. "I've never actually heard anyone say that but I get the idea," he responded.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a bunch of bullshit." Kim's words made Ron do a double take as she explained. "I would never want to die for you Ronnie, because if I was dead that means you'd still be alive and I wouldn't be able to be with you."

Once again Kim looked him right in the eye. "If it was my time to go, I'd hope that it was your time as well, so we could spend the rest of eternity together. I wasn't lying earlier on when I said I couldn't live a day without you. I would never want to die _for _you; instead my wish—if it comes right down to it—is to die _with_ you."

Ron was left speechless by his girlfriend's utter devotion and love for him. Not even his trademark "Booyah" could convey how he was feeling towards her; there was absolutely no doubt as to how she felt about him.

Words mightn't have done his emotions justice, but he could still use actions to tell her how he felt. Cupping her face in both hands, he leaned close and kissed her tenderly for what seemed like forever. Afterwards, they remained cuddled together on the boulder, staring out into the wilderness together.

Their moment was finally broken by a yawn from Ron. "I'd love to stay here all night KP, but it's getting cooler and I think we have some warm sleeping bags waiting for us back at camp."

"I think that's a great idea Ronnie," she purred at him as they climbed down from the boulder.

Ron looked at her once they were on the ground with a raised eyebrow. "What's with calling me Ronnie?" he asked innocently.

"Well… you've always called me KP, so I figured Ronnie would work for you," she replied, smiling innocently at him. "Do you like it?"

"I think I can get used to it," he smiled back at his girlfriend and leaned in to kiss her one more time. "I love you, KP."

"I love you, too, Ronnie."

After a _very_ long kiss, they both made their way back to their campsite with their hands entwined together. Sleep came easy for both of them that evening as they lay in each other's arms, wrapped in warm sleeping bags and dreams of each other that were sweeter than they'd ever had.

**FIN**

* * *

_A/N: With that Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pride to be able to say that I have completed my first story on this site! Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, or put this story in their favorites over the last six months. A special thank you to those who have made me their favorite author, it means a lot to me._

_This is not the end...I shall return to finish my ongoing stories and create new ones. But for now, a big thank you to my beta reader DeucesWild as well as all the people of the Kimmunity who's supported a newbie! You guys are definitely the most supportive group of people I've ever met. Your encouragement is why I do this._

_Take care of yourselves, and I will see you all again very soon..._

_jkrust78_


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